Garden of fruitless blossoms
by IcyLady
Summary: A different kind of future, where the Second Exorcist Project had been a success, where Allen had met Road Kamelot before he had met the Exorcists and where the "good" and "evil" got tangled and mixed so much that it's sometimes impossible to tell them apart. Rated for eventual violence
1. A different, happier kind of future

**Disclaimer: D Gray Man and all its original characters belong to Katsura Hoshino. I have made up this outrageous plot for my own amusement and for the pleasure of the potential readers. No money is being made. Please respect my work and don't repost the story in its entirety or in parts anywhere else. Links to this page can be easily given instead.**

**Author's note: Normally I prefer shorter stories / one-shots or crossovers (a moment of shameless publicity: I'm really proud of my Black Butler / D Gray Man story "Dies Irae" www fanfiction net / s / 9621082 / 1 / Dies-Irae), but I got this idea and I knew there's no way to write it other than completely re-writing the story told by the manga's author and that it's going to take many words.**

**It's inspired by a song and by a picture, both which I had found online and by Kanda's thoughts from my own story (www fanfiction net / s / 9779772 / 1 / Stolen-season) about a "different, happier kind of future".**

**There might be some romance in this story, but it'll never become an important part of the plot (other than possibly driving the caracters to reckless decisions). There will surely be angst, but again, as a driving force, rather than just for the sake of angst like in many of my stories (www fanfiction net / s / 9210170 / 1 / That-Butler-Gourmandises). Most of all there are supposed to be adventures, suspense, maybe some mystery and hopefully some surprises.**

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_**Garden of fruitless blossoms**_

**Prologue: A different, happier kind of future**

Something was shaking him, rousing him from his slumber as his curiosity rose as well. What was that shaking? It was rhythmic and repetitive and rather gentle. He didn't remember any shaking in the Institute, not of this kind at least, definitely not "gentle". Then, suddenly, memories started coming back as his brain woke up more and more, taking in the foreign smells mixing with some of the familiar ones.

He had managed to synchronise with his Innocence. Both, he and Yuu had managed, in a middle of one of their nastier fights, shocking everybody including themselves. However, whereas they simply returned to their fighting, their weapons rending it so much more vicious, the scientists rushed in to separate them, worried they might get hurt.

Alma winced internally at the memory of that intervention. He hadn't really meant to decapitate that man as he swung his Innocence-overgrown arm at Yuu. He wasn't entirely sure whether Yuu regretted slicing through that other man, because Yuu hated the scientists. However, since they let him out, then they had probably judged him safe, as they had done with Alma. Both he and Yuu had been isolated and tested, their synchronisation as well as their mental health, in the aftermath of that bloody misunderstanding. Once judged mentally stable, Alma had been let out of the isolation and started on the second stage of the project: training. Yuu had joined him some weeks later, sullen and angry.

'Are you awake Alma?' asked a friendly voice that Alma immediately recognised as Bak Chang. He opened his eyes and blinked his vision into focus, as usual momentarily confusing Bak for Doctor Edgar. One day he would have to ask why they were so similar.

'Are we soon there?' he asked instead, stretching and smiling at Yuu, who looked away immediately, scowling. Alma didn't lose his smile though, knowing by now that anger and hate were Yuu's way of coping with their harsh reality, as much as smiles were Alma's. Besides, he knew that Yuu didn't hate him, so Alma let his excitement take over.

After the synchronisation and final testing, as he called it in his head, his world had suddenly changed. He had been let out of the Sixth Institute and, even though he had been training in the Asian Branch for a year, there was no end to his amazement. There was a vast expense of blue over his head, there was water falling on him when the blue turned fluffy and grey, there were so many people and unending corridors, rooms full of books or screens and there was something called "food" that replaced medication and that tasted. There were so many words he didn't know! Every time he had thought he had it covered, something new popped up much to his delight and Yuu's annoyance.

Now, that they were on their way to the headquarters of the Black Order, Alma fully expected to be even more amazed. Already the "trains" were astonishing in themselves: huge machines racing across the world that was far bigger than he could have ever dreamed up. The mere number of hours it took to cross "Asia" and get to "Europe" was enough to make Alma's head spin, especially when Bak opened the map and taught them about places they were passing.

In the thrill of it all, Alma had almost forgotten that, going to the headquarters to finish their training and become Exorcists, he and Yuu had left the other two who had woken up behind. Yuu didn't care much, or so he said, but Alma threw a fit when he was told they would be separated for as long as it took the two new ones to synchronise and complete the second stage of training. He was still very unhappy about it, but as he looked at Yuu, he smiled again: he was with his brother after all and he had sworn to protect his younger, angry brother.

Yuu was now looking at his lap where, on his hands, resting palms up, Alma could see a beautiful lotus flower, glowing faintly. Another one was sitting on the floor, next to where Alma's legs were dangling, too short to reach the floor. Did Yuu see the lotuses as well? Alma was pretty sure he did, if only because of the way he was looking at "his" lotus sometimes, with a mix of fear and hate. They never talked about it, however, because old man Zhu had told Alma that the flower was an illusion and that he should never mention it to anybody and, Alma guessed, he had said the same to Yuu.

A knock on the door snapped Alma out of his thoughts and made Yuu jump a bit in his seat. His little brother had been very jumpy and somewhat afraid, even though he tried to not show that, since they had left the Asian Branch, so Alma sent him an encouraging smile that was greeted with a frown. Ignoring the frown, Alma looked at the door. The Finder that was escorting them on their way poked his head in.

'We've almost arrived Mr Chang, Sirs Exorcists,' he said in a tone that made Alma wonder if he was still afraid of them. He was, by the looks of it and Alma guessed that Yuu's hateful glares did nothing to dispel the fear either.

'Thank you,' Bak said with a friendly smile and the Finder disappeared, closing the door. 'We'll take a short ride in a carriage and then a boat trip to the headquarters,' Bak said, turning to Yuu and Alma. 'Once we're there, we will immediately meet Supervisor Lee and then you guys will have some time to explore. The training will resume tomorrow.'

'Great,' Alma enthused, smiling brightly at Bak, because he thought the man deserved that smile. He must have had a patience of a saint, since he had managed to somehow coax Yuu into cooperation after the synchronisation and Alma knew from experience how difficult it was to get Yuu to do anything, especially when it concerned the Project. Bak had been in charge of Yuu, after the synchronisation and, Alma had once overheard, had been the only reason why Yuu had ever been let out of the isolation. As it was, Bak Chang was one of the extremely few people at the Asian Branch that Yuu tolerated. Alma assumed that this was why he was accompanying them, rather than Renée Epstein who had been in charge of Alma.

The ride in the carriage and the trip in the boat were far too short for Alma, who suddenly started to be anxious about their new home. He even went as far as grabbing Yuu's hand for comfort, when they were standing in front of the supervisor's office. He was grateful when Yuu didn't yank his hand back, only shot him a withering glare, until the door opened and they stepped in, both trying to look serious and respectable, like they had been taught Exorcists should look.

'Welcome to the headquarters,' said an Asian man, standing up behind his desk. 'My name is Komui Lee and I'm the supervisor of the Black Order. Those here are my chief scientist, Reever Wenhamm and the head nurse, Mary Jane, who is in fact the chief medical doctor of the Main Branch,' he added, pointing to the blond man and a serious-looking woman, standing close to his side. 'Those two are the only ones to whom I have chosen to disclose the true nature of those,' the supervisor hesitated. 'Children,' he finished. Alma frowned and looked up at Bak, who was frowning as well.

'Is this a secret?' he asked and Bak looked at him with some surprise before smiling slightly and saying that it was a secret for the moment. Then the frown was back as Bak looked at the supervisor again. Between the two of them, Yuu was glaring at the floor fiercely.

'Thank you for the welcome,' Bak said and Alma thought there was something forced in the politeness of his tone, but he assumed it must have been his mistake. After all, he was not very good with emotions. 'My name is Bak Chang, those are Alma and Yuu, Alma's fighting teacher Jim Epstein and Yuu's sword-fighting master Hei Chang.'

'Epstein and Chang, eh?' the supervisor muttered so quietly that Alma was sure only the two standing next to the supervisor, himself and Yuu had heard. He didn't sound happy. Why wouldn't he be happy? 'Very well, Mr Chang, we have rooms prepared for you all and I understand that the teachers will be staying while you-'

'It's Bak and I will be staying for the moment as well,' Bak said and paused. 'Komui,' he finished with the slightest of smiles. Alma caught a small wince on the supervisor's face, before the man's expression turned neutral again. 'I'm in charge of the scientific side of the second stage of the Project. I will be staying until I'm sure that one of your staff can follow through with the medical and scientific check-ups on Alma's and Yuu's progress,' he explained. This was new to Alma and he fidgeted in the effort to not speak. Yuu glared at him and he tried to stay still. After all, they were supposed to be Exorcists, not some silly kids.

'Very well,' the supervisor said. He glanced at some papers on his desk. 'They have no family names?'

'No, they don't. Will that be a problem?' Bak asked. Alma looked between the two men, for the first time realising that his and Yuu's names only had one part while all the other names had at least two. The supervisor sighed.

'I suppose it will not be a problem. I'll tell Lenalee's tutor that he will have two more students starting tomorrow,' he said and glanced at Alma and Yuu, for the first time actually looking at them. Alma smiled and the supervisor looked away quickly. 'Although the Central wants them out in the field as soon as possible,' he said. This made Yuu look up at the supervisor for the first time, albeit briefly and only to send him a scorching glare that made the man recoil slightly.

'I know,' came Bak's solemn reply. 'They are not quite ready, but will soon be. I'll coordinate the tutoring with their training,' he assured the supervisor, who nodded curtly.

'What is tutoring?' Alma asked, unable to stay quiet anymore. It was not in his nature to not ask questions and there has been at least ten he wanted to ask already. Yuu scoffed, but Alma only elbowed him in reply, enjoying the furious glare this had earned him.

'Teaching,' Bak said, putting a calming hand on Yuu's shoulder and turning to the supervisor to ask whether there was a place appropriate for meditation in the headquarters. Alma hoped there was, because meditation was nice for him and somehow necessary for Yuu.

'It was mentioned as one of your requirements,' the supervisor replied, still not sounding happy. 'It has been prepared but if you find it not to your liking, something else can be arranged,' he amended. Alma smiled at him again, because all that was needed was calm and he was sure the man knew that.

'Who is Lenalee?' he asked before Bak could answer to the supervisor. This time he directed the question to the supervisor, looking up at him with curiosity. He noted a small smile that stretched the man's lips. It died when he asked whether Lenalee was a kid like himself and Yuu.

'Lenalee is an Exorcist in training and she's ten years old,' the supervisor said stiffly. Three years younger than Alma than, and two years younger than Yuu, Alma thought, ignoring the stiff tone for the moment. 'She is not like you,' the supervisor added quietly. Alma nodded.

'You mean she's human?' he asked, to make sure that he understood. He was confused by the shock that coloured the supervisor's face as the man stared at him and then looked at Bak. He looked at Bak as well to see him pursing his lips.

'Yes, she's human,' the supervisor said after a long moment of silence. 'She's my younger sister,' he added and Alma smiled to this because that was something he could understand. The supervisor looked startled by the sudden smile.

'Yuu is my little brother,' Alma announced, ignoring Yuu's hissed protest. 'How old are you?' he asked. Bak laughed shortly.

'I think that's enough of introductions for now, Alma,' he said, his tone lighter than it has been since they had entered the headquarters. Alma turned to look up at him, pouting. 'How about we look at our rooms and rest a bit before dinner? Maybe we can even arrange to meet Lenalee then, what do you say?'

'Awesome,' Alma exclaimed and looked at the supervisor again. 'Can we please meet Lenalee for dinner?' he asked in his best pleading tone. Usually, using this tone gave him whatever he asked for. 'I really want to become friends with her,' he informed the man who looked at him with a weird mix of emotions on his face. Alma held his ground. Finally the man nodded wordlessly and Alma grinned, turning to Yuu and forcing his grin to stay bright and happy when faced with another withering glare. He knew that Yuu didn't want to become friends with anybody, but he was going to drag him through it forcefully, until Yuu saw the benefit of having more friends than just Alma.

'Mr- I mean Bak,' the supervisor called. Alma glanced at the man, worried about the somewhat pained expression on his face. 'I didn't think they would be so nor- so young,' he said, his tone somehow forced, as though he didn't really want to say anything. What was he going to say first? Alma wanted to ask him. Instead, he looked up at Bak's pursed lips and sad expression. Was Bak still upset about what had happened to Alma and Yuu? Alma knew, from Yuu, that Bak didn't like the topic of the synchro-testing and anything that went with. He knew that it made Bak sad to mention what had been done to Alma and Yuu. Was the supervisor upset about that now as well? He glanced at the man again and saw that his eyes were gleaming suspiciously.

'Don't worry mister supervisor,' he said, because he didn't like it when people were sad. He grinned when the man jumped and looked at him and Yuu. 'Everything is easy when one has friends,' he informed him. He was repeating a phrase from one of his books, but he knew that it was true because he wouldn't have survived the syncho-testing without Yuu there to help him. He wouldn't have kept his sanity had he been alone in the darkness of the Sixth Institute. He wouldn't have been able to quell his burning anger, towards those who had subjected him and Yuu to such torture, without Yuu being there, angry and in desperate need of calming. He wouldn't have been able to breathe if he hadn't had somebody to laugh with.

He wrapped an arm around Yuu's shoulders, hugging his little brother close to his side. Next to him, Yuu relaxed his tense shoulders minutely, only to tense up again when the door to the office banged open.

'Brother, brother,' called a new voice, loud and shrill, making Yuu physically flinch. The pitch was similar to that of their younger sister, whom Alma and Yuu had only met once after she had also woken up from her cold, little pool.

Turning at the same time as everybody around him, Alma saw a girl who ran into the office and stopped dead, blushing as everybody's attention turned to her. Then her eyes met Alma's and her expression brightened again. 'So it's true that there are new kids coming,' she exclaimed. Alma tightened his grip on Yuu's shoulders because he felt the other tensing even more, ready to pull away.

'Well, since you're here,' the supervisor's voice came from much closer than before and Alma spared the man a fleeting glance, only to see that he came to stand just behind them, next to Bak. Yuu looked at the man longer before resuming his inconspicuous attempts at getting away.

'Those are Alma and Yuu and they will be training to be Exorcists as well. Boys, this is my sister, Lenalee,' the supervisor said, his tone warm and kind. As the girl came closer, Yuu finally managed to push himself away from Alma and stepped to the side, glaring at the girl. Alma made sure to smile for the both of them as he said that he was happy to meet her. She smiled at him again, very carefully not looking at Yuu.

'Do you want me to show you the place?' she asked, enthusiasm crackling like electricity in her voice. Alma nearly jumped on the spot at the suggestion, but he had no time to reply because, for once, Yuu beat him to it.

'Can I go to my room now?' he asked as soon as she had finished her question, his tone cold and indifferent as he looked at the floor again. The girl's expression faltered.

'Let them have some rest, Lenalee. They have just arrived from a long trip from the Asian Branch,' the supervisor said, although his tone wasn't quite as warm anymore. Alma pursed his lips, knowing that Yuu had managed to insult the man. He was about to say that Yuu was just shy, to defend his little brother, when the supervisor spoke again. 'You'll show them around after dinner, alright?'

'Alright brother,' she replied with a new smile, waved at Alma and left the office, skipping. The supervisor sighed when the door slammed shut behind her. In the momentary silence, Alma opened his mouth to speak, but the supervisor was faster.

'She has gone through some dreadful things herself,' he said, sounding like he was talking to himself, sad and contemplative. 'Just two weeks ago, another young exorcist was killed and she took that blow very hard. It's the first time I see her smile since then, so please be nice,' he added and Alma realised that he was actually talking to Yuu. Bak put a hand on Yuu's shoulder again, in a gesture that meant Yuu should not say anything because Bak probably knew, like Alma knew, that Yuu would have no sympathy to share. Because Bak and his teacher were the only people to whom Yuu actually listened, Yuu glared at the floor again.

'He's just shy, mister supervisor,' Alma said to his brother's defence, smiling at Yuu's glare and then at the supervisor's worried expression. 'And you shouldn't worry: we can't die so we won't make Lenalee sad,' he added very matter-of-factly.

The supervisor stared. Alma didn't understand why.


	2. Five centimetres per second

**Readers! Please leave comments, don't be shy ;) Comments make me a happy author, hehe**

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**Ch. 1: Five centimetres per second**

Ink on paper, ink on paper, repeat it Deak: people are just ink on paper.

He had been repeating it to himself for a while and he did believe in it wholeheartedly. Reading about a little girl, murdered brutally by her abusive uncle didn't even make him blink. It barely registered as important, some ink wasted on paper that could otherwise carry interesting information. News of a train accident that killed a hundred only registered as an event to be duly noted and ignored, even when the article was accompanied by pictures of people crying, mourning the loss of their close ones. After all, those crying people were just ink on paper, like the ones smashed in the mangled train debris. Ink that could be wiped away as easily as it could form words.

However, the sheer numbers of war victims were staggering, especially in that recent war. Even if Deak imagined them as paper-thin, man-shaped figures standing next to each other, they took a lot of space and Deak had a very skilled imagination, so he knew that his estimation of the space taken up by paper-victims was correct. It was a lot of ink spilled stupidly, he thought, in a consequence of some old idiot's order. Human race was disgusting, he knew, only able to kill.

Aged only fourteen, Deak had already seen more wars than he cared to count. Or rather, the Bookman Junior had seen them: forty-eight to be precise and Bookmen were always precise. Deak, Junior's latest persona, had only seen that one, most recent war, since Junior was changing his persona for each war, because a Bookman needed to become whoever he wished. This latest one was the largest yet in Junior's life, the most shattering in its consequences. So the numbers in his logs said, so he could testify from the sights he had seen while recording the information for his logs. In a detached sort of way, he was relieved that the war was over and that he was going to be able to take on another persona and hopefully find the next war smaller. Not that Bookmen bothered much with hope of course.

Until then, he was sitting in the park, thinking as he watched children play. He was not remembering the events of the war, no, those were stored neatly in his brain and in his logs, to be retrieved when needed and otherwise ignored. He didn't need them now, he didn't want them. The pictures of countless coffins, landscapes of battlefields, destruction and death: Deak has had enough and he was taking a break before Bookman would come and take him to the next war.

The short time he had between missions gave him a space to breathe, a moment to appreciate what humans called the beauty of the world. Currently, it was autumn in the war-ravaged country and the leaves were yellow and red, falling from the trees as the wind blew. "A petal of a cherry blossom falls with the speed of five centimetres per second," came unbidden to his head. He had heard it once and now he remembered the circumstances.

A war, or rather a scuffle, between the Chinese natives and the Japanese immigrants had been recorded by Bookman and him, two years ago. The conflict was not long and they were already on the way to the next war, walking among the immigrant camp, when that phrase caught his attention. In passing, he turned to glace at the old woman was had spoken those words to somebody Junior couldn't see. She was speaking Japanese, a language that Junior barely knew. He didn't hear the context as he rushed behind Bookman and he didn't bother to wonder, dismissing the woman as the ink on paper she was even as he memorised her features in one glance. However, the phrase stayed with him and returned in random moments like this.

Japan was isolated, he mused. He wasn't sure why and he didn't care to know as long as a war didn't bring him there. He didn't think there would be a war that could, as things were, but one never knew. If it happened, he hoped the cherry trees would be in bloom then, so maybe that wretched phrase would leave him be.

He breathed in, deeply. Rain was coming and maybe it would wash away the stench of death that still lingered around. He wrapped the blanket tighter around himself as a particularly strong gust of wind hit him. At least his mind was at peace again, he thought, again unaffected by the destruction and spilled ink.

'Do you want to play with us?' asked a childish voice, snapping him out of his thoughts. Deak looked at the dark haired girl who seemed to be his age. Emotionlessly, he took in her features and took a guess at her ancestry, not missing the somewhat empty look in her dark eyes. The children of war, he heard in his head, are forever haunted. Like he cared, he scoffed mentally.

'No,' he replied coldly, careful to use her native language. Emotionlessly, he watched her smile fade. She took a step back and then left and he watched her go, untroubled, uncaring. Admittedly, children seemed to recover from the war fairly well, he thought, if one didn't count how they cowered at every louder noise.

'Junior,' Bookman's voice thundered in the relative silence of the autumn afternoon. The children scattered as Deak looked at the old, old man who was his master and teacher.

'My hearing is still good, old man,' he grumbled, jumping off the bench nimbly. 'Are we done here?' he asked, even though he knew the answer. The old man nodded solemnly and Deak paused. Such a solemn expression was uncharacteristic for his emotionless master.

'The next log will be long,' the Bookman announced. 'Choose your new persona carefully, because you will maybe need to spend years wearing it,' he added.

'Years?' Deak exclaimed, earning a scolding glare. Bookmen did not exclaim, because exclamation was an expression of strong feelings. 'What kind of war can last years and still leave the world standing, or tumbling for that matter?' he asked, back to his indifferent, somewhat bored tone.

'It is a different war,' the Bookman replied, already walking away. Obediently, Deak followed. 'It's a dark and secret war that is on-going even now and, for once, we will be participants, not spectators,' Bookman said. Deak forced himself to not show his surprise for the second time in such a short moment.

'By participants you mean-' he trailed off, unsure.

'That we will be participating in the fight,' the Bookman said impatiently. 'Have you forgotten your English already, boy?' he scolded. Deak pursed his lips. 'I know that we never participated in fighting so far, but it happens. Treat it as a new exercise. It is more difficult to keep impartial views when you fight alongside others and get to know them before they die.'

'Like I would be interested in getting to know ink,' Deak huffed, a tinge of annoyance in his voice.

'It will be a part of your task,' the Bookman announced. 'So far you have only been writing logs of battles, but sometimes a Bookman needs to make a log of a person, because some people are very important for the outcomes of wars. You will not be writing about important people, just regular soldiers, but it will be a good practice.'

'Whatever,' Deak muttered, following the Bookman. This new war already sounded like a bother.

})i({

Allen Walker never felt lucky. His first memories were of living in the streets, starving and freezing and sometimes even abused. The memories invariably included a horrifying, disgusting, disfigured left hand that was dark and somewhat metallic and useless, except for bringing him more trouble. There were never any parents or even a name that he could call his but at that point he wasn't sure he even knew what a "name" was. He remembered three winters on the streets.

Then came the circus, Mana and the best years of his life. Mana Walker, a kind if rather weird man, took him in and gave him a name, which then was such a huge event that he wasn't sure it sank in for the first couple of weeks. Mana helped him to learn to use his horrifying left hand and bought him a glove under which he could hide his deformation. More mundanely, Mana taught him about days of the week and months of the year and algebra and more things that the boy, now proudly called Allen Walker, cared to count. Most importantly, with Mana, Allen found out how it feels to be loved.

A year after their meeting, they left the circus to travel on their own. Allen kept learning new things, such as juggling with his deformed hand. Just when he started to shyly think that life could be good, during the fourth winter they spent together, Mana Walker died in a stupid, pointless accident. Just like that, all that was good in Allen's life was gone and he had made the most horrible mistake of calling Mana's soul back and making him into a demon. The events that followed were blurry, but he knew that Mana had cursed him and he knew that he had killed Mana, his deformed hand turning huge and silvery and acting on his own, hacking away the metal skeleton that imprisoned Mana's soul.

Allen found himself white-haired in the aftermath, with his face marred by a weird scar and his heart so filled with despair that he wanted to cry himself to death. That cold night, he found out that knowing love and losing it was a hundred times worse than not knowing love at all. Maybe he would have cried himself to death, sitting on Mana's grave, or maybe he would have frozen to death, except Marian Cross arrived and asked him if he wanted to be an exorcist. Allen, who wanted only to die, nodded because he had promised Mana that he would walk on.

Walk on he did, following Cross into bars and public houses, learning more about life than he had ever wished to learn, forgetting even to count the winters. He worked Cross's debts off and learned to play and cheat at poker. Eventually, he learned that all human beings were untrustworthy because they could all be demons. This once luck smiled at him, because Mana's curse let him see demons and so he could keep a semblance of normal life between the random demon attacks and poker games.

Then, out of the blue, Cross had abandoned him and Timcampy, disappearing one night, when Allen was asleep. It didn't take Allen long to realise that his master had been serious when he had said that he hated the Black Order and never wanted to go back. In his weird and brutal way, Cross was sending him off with a blessing, in the golden form of Timcampy, and so Allen went on because really, what else was there for him to do?

The road was long, from India through Asia to Europe, then until London. He wasn't sure what he would do once he reached London, because the Black Order headquarters had no address that Cross could have given him. He only said that it's close to London and that he "would see immediately", so Allen had to hope that his master was correct.

'Hey there,' said a girly voice one day, snapping him out of his thoughts, and Allen looked up at the voice's owner. Sure enough it was a girl, looking to be more less his age, that is to say fifteen years old. Not that Allen properly knew how old he was, but Mana gave him six years when they met and that made Allen fifteen now. The girl smiled a pretty smile, her golden eyes sparkling, so Allen smiled back.

'Can I help you?' he asked and the girl ruffled her short, dark hair, laughing as though she was delighted by the very sound of his voice. He felt himself blush at the idea.

'I don't know, can you?' she asked back and laughed. 'You looked lonely, so I thought I can come by and talk,' she added, sitting down next to him. Allen blinked.

'What is a girl like you doing in this forest anyway?' he asked, because there was nothing around, only trees and grass and the beaten path he had been walking for two weeks now.

'What is a boy like you doing in this forest anyway?' she parroted and he laughed. She looked delighted to hear him laugh and Allen felt lighter. Who was that weird girl anyway? She didn't have baggage and she wasn't dressed like a traveller.

'My name is Allen,' he said, because politeness never hurt and he needed something to say. 'What is yours?'

'Road,' the girl said. Allen blinked, realising that she actually replied to his question, rather than uttering a random word. 'I know it's a weird name,' she added, smiling charmingly. 'Maybe it's because of this name that I am always on the move.'

'Then we fit, because I am Allen Walker,' he informed her. A warm feeling, reminding him a bit of the time he had spent with Mana, enveloped him when he said those words, intensifying when Road smiled sweetly in reply.

'Maybe we can walk together for a while then?' she suggested. 'You seem to be going my way,' she added, making Allen laugh again. He realised that it was the first time when another person made him laugh in a very long time. It was a nice feeling.

'I'm going to London,' he said and she looked at him for a moment, before asking if he planned to pass by Asia on his way to London. He didn't and the question confused him.

'London is the other direction,' Road informed him with a snort, when he expressed his confusion. 'I saw you walk yesterday, so I know that you're heading back to Asia,' she added and Allen felt his face burn with a furious blush.

'I'm kind of good at getting lost,' he admitted sheepishly. Road nodded and offered that she would walk until the shores of France with him and then he could go on the ferry and, once he reached England, he would surely find his way. He was honestly grateful and the warm feeling tickled him again.

They walked together for a couple of days, swapping stories and laughing and finally, Allen told Road that he was going to the Black Order, to become an Exorcist. He wasn't sure what to think of her sudden interest, but she seemed impressed and Allen liked the feeling of impressing somebody. He even forgot to be surprised that a young girl like her knew about the Exorcists, then again, he didn't know anything about her past, did he?

He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised when he had finally found the Exorcists, who seemed to be looking for his master, and they told him that Road was an enemy. He supposed that the time he had spent with her was too good to last.


	3. He who needs no heart

**Ch. 2: He who needs no heart**

Sitting in the quiet library, Lavi the Bookman's apprentice finished the logs from his most recent mission. He had noted every single detail, recorded every important conversation and concluded that the subject study of his mission partner was finally complete. He would have to tell the Bookman, so that the Bookman could subtly influence the Supervisor Lee to change Lavi's mission partner, so that another exorcist could be thoroughly studied. All in all, the profiling was not a bad task, except it implied that he had to get to know the target pretty well.

As he closed the log book, feeling mildly disgusted at how his partner had completely trusted him and how he abused that trust to get information, he realised that it was still too early for dinner, unless he wanted to eat alone or with Yuu. Normally he would have gone to eat because, as opposed to most of the Black Order members, he didn't mind sharing his meals with the sour samurai. However, there was a threat that Yuu wasn't back from his mission yet so Lavi sat back in the chair, idly remembering the finer points of his last assignment with none other than Yuu's "brother" Alma.

The mission had been simple: retrieve Innocence. Most of their missions were like that, although Alma and Yuu were usually sent on missions of higher risk, which meant that Lavi was never bored when he was with them. This time at least the location wasn't very complicated and if not for the hordes of demons the Finders, damn those cowards, could have probably succeeded in getting the shiny cube back to the headquarters. As it was, Lavi and Alma had spent literally hours, fighting off the demons in order to fulfil the mission.

If Lavi was honest with himself, he would have to say that it was Alma who had done most of the fighting, but that was always the case when on missions with either of the "Japanese", Alma or Yuu. They both fought best alone, completely taking over the battlefield if given the smallest chance to do so. Fighting against demons together, which Lavi had seen once only, they were a sight to behold, as beautiful as they were terrifying.

He remembered being incredibly frustrated about their insistence at fighting alone, when he had joined the Order. In the beginning, he thought that Alma and Yuu didn't let him fight too much because he wasn't experienced. When he had gained experience, mostly through missions with Daisya or Noise Marie, he thought it was because Alma and Yuu didn't trust his skills, which frustrated him even more. Then one day, finally he had found out what they were and he understood.

Daisya had found out, accidentally overhearing a part of the discussion between Yuu and Bak Chang, a scientist on a visit from the Asian Branch, about the "other Seconds". He, Daisya and Lenalee had been trying to piece the information together when Alma came in and heard them. He hadn't been angry either, only somewhat resigned, as he replied to their questions and awaited their verdict, afraid they would reject him and Yuu. As if they could have ever rejected their friends over something as trivial as them being artificially engineered, Lavi had thought back then. Then he had cursed himself, because Alma and Yuu were definitely not his friends and it really didn't matter what they were. Right?

Friends or not, Lavi still remembered the shock of realising that the ever cheerful Alma was a product of the Order's bloodiest experiment. He had known about the project, more than he wished and more than he was ever going to share with Daisya and Lenalee. In his shock, which he was not supposed to have felt, he had reacted in a very human way, thus forging a bond with Alma. He felt vaguely sick when the Bookman told him later that it had been the reason why Lavi hadn't been allowed access to the personal files of the children he was interacting with to start with.

He groaned at the memories. He should not feel affected by ink, he reminded himself, trying to not think that "ink" bleeding out to death after saving his life was not mere ink anymore, even if the death was temporary. Neither Alma nor Yuu made it easy to think of them as inhuman weapons, not when they did their best to protect those who would die permanently, not when they suffered in pain as a consequence and definitely not when they bickered like real siblings would. Daisya and Lenalee were also not easily considered as "ink", Lavi thought, deciding that his current persona was a complete failure.

'I was hoping to find you here,' said a voice of the newest addition to the teenaged fighting force, as Lavi sometimes thought about the young exorcists with whom he shared most of his time. He looked up at Allen Walker, who was just coming into the library and smiled automatically. There was something about Allen that made Lavi like him immediately, adding another failure to his list.

'What can I help you with, beansprout?' he asked, only to see Allen's eyebrows twitch. "Beansprout" was Yuu's nickname for Allen and Allen hated it almost as much as he probably hated Yuu, which in turn was probably almost as much as Yuu hated Allen.

Lenalee complained that their mutual hate was a result of a misunderstanding of them having met Allen while the boy was travelling with the Noah of Dreams, Road Kamelot. Lavi wasn't sure that they would be friends in other circumstances although Yuu's immediate conclusion that Allen must have been a Noah certainly did not help. Daisya only laughed at Lenalee and planted more traps-turned-practical-jokes for Allen to fall victim to, much to their general amusement. Lavi would swear that he had even seen Yuu smile at the jokes a couple of times, which was a small miracle in itself.

'It's Allen, you stupid rabbit,' Allen reciprocated with Yuu's nickname for Lavi, reaching the table where the Bookman's apprentice was sitting and plopping down on the chair opposite to him. 'I wanted to ask you about Kanda,' he said, sounding somewhat disappointed when Lavi offered no protest to the nickname. Did he not know that Lavi liked the nickname?

'Yuu?' Lavi asked, even though there was nobody else called Kanda in the whole of Black Order. There had never been in the history and Lavi wondered sometimes if Yuu had researched it. Getting a grunt of confirmation, he chuckled. 'You do realise that "Kanda" is not at all his name? What did he do this time?' he asked, remembering that Allen was on the mission with Yuu. He wasn't sure why Komui paired them up together, unless he was trying to get rid of Allen inconspicuously.

'Huh?' was all Allen said, blinking at Lavi in confusion. 'Everybody, except for you and Alma, calls him that so how is it not his name?' he asked back. Lavi grinned.

'Some time ago he got pissed at the English jokes made with his name and demanded to be called "Kanda". Nobody knows why "Kanda", by the way. A couple of people resisted but after they landed in hospital everybody suddenly always remembered to call him "Kanda" instead of Yuu,' Lavi explained, still grinning at the memories. Those had been good days, wreaking havoc in the headquarters and terrorising the adults. Allen muttered something. 'Except for me of course, and Alma, but Yuu loves us so he will allow that,' he added with a laugh.

'Yes, his love shines through brightly when he holds Mugen to your throat,' Allen deadpanned. 'But why invent a name? Doesn't he have a family name or something that he could use?' he asked. Lavi looked at him with some surprise. Didn't Allen talk with some Finders? Finders loved to gossip and Lavi was sure that they would gladly share all the things they knew about all the Exorcists, especially Yuu and, to a lesser degree, Alma and Kaori, all of whom they hated.

'Really Allen, you don't know anything? Yuu is just Yuu, the same as Alma is just that: "Alma" and, wait - you haven't met Kaori yet, have you?'

'No I haven't,' Allen replied. 'You all weird people don't have family names,' he complained. 'I understand you, Lavi, since I've heard that your name is something you've chosen to be called, but why Yuu and Alma wouldn't have a family name? Even if they didn't have parents or didn't know their parents, somebody would have given them a full name, no?' he asked. There was something in his tone that piqued Lavi's interest. He was going to have to find out about Allen's past. The boy might be an important figure in the history and it wouldn't do for the Bookmen to not have complete information about him.

'I guess the people who had created them didn't really bother,' Lavi muttered, half thinking about how to get Allen to talk about his past. Only when the white-head snapped up, wide eyes staring at Lavi did he realise what he'd said.

'Created?' Allen repeated. With a mental wince, Lavi nodded and decided to tell him everything. After all, Allen would find out sooner or later, better if he finds in a controlled way and doesn't say something that would send Yuu on a murderous rampage. Lavi was good enough an observer to know that Yuu was often on the edge of a murderous rampage and, despite appearances, he was very careful to not push him over it.

'They're Second Exorcists,' he said simply, shrugging. 'They have been created by the scientists in the Asian Branch to try and remedy the lack of "natural" Apostles. How they managed to create Innocence-compatible, uh, people, is not described in any files I have access to,' he said. Internally, he added that he was not going to describe how they forced the synchronisation. He didn't have to, in order to shock Allen. The boy was already staring at him incredulously. Then again, maybe if he did shock the boy even more, he would have an easy task in getting information out of him.

He hated himself for even thinking that.

'I wanted to ask you how it's possible that Kanda was dead one moment and fighting next to me five minutes later,' Allen muttered. 'But I guess if you make a weapon you try and make it robust or something,' he added, words sounding as they didn't really want to leave his mouth. Lavi shuddered involuntarily, because Yuu and Alma had been made immortal so that they could get a chance in becoming the weapons. All the previous specimens, without the regenerative seals, had died on the first attempt of synchronisation, just like Alma and Yuu had. Only they hadn't stayed dead for long. Allen said something more.

'What was it?' he asked, shaking the images out of his head. He needed to focus on reality to be able to do his job properly.

'I said that they act, uh, human,' Allen repeated, sounding embarrassed. 'I mean if you remove this dead-not-dead issue they're just like you or me, aren't they?' he asked. Lavi, who had been studying the Seconds with clinical care, felt rotten but nodded anyway.

'They're behaving pretty human, yeah,' he muttered, looking down at his desk. 'But wait till you meet Kaori. I guess the Central considers her a more successful specimen,' he added, surprised to find that the bitterness in his voice was not faked. He did not care about the Central or the Seconds, he reminded himself.

'Who's Kaori?' Allen asked.

'A walking shield,' Lavi replied dryly and shook his head. 'She's another Second. She arrived to the headquarters a bit after me and she gives no indication of having any feelings whatsoever.'

Of course Allen asked about Kaori. Lavi didn't know the reasons for sure, but the scientists in the Asian Branch thought that the untimely death of Jirou, Kaori's "brother", was to blame for the difference between her and the other two Seconds. Like Alma had woken up half a year before Yuu, so Jirou had woken up five months before Kaori. Unlike Yuu and Alma, Jirou and Kaori had become fast friends immediately. Unfortunately, there had been something wrong with Jirou's regenerative seal, or maybe Sirlins Epstein had pushed him too hard because Kaori was progressing faster, although that latter was just Lavi's conclusion from reading the files and he didn't say anything about it to Allen. Whatever the reason was, Jirou died and Kaori never really came out of shock. Alone where Alma and Yuu had had each other, she had become a perfect weapon: obedient, feeling-less and practically indestructible. She also saw herself as a weapon and a shield for human exorcists.

'She's out with Lenalee,' Lavi finished his story. 'Komui always sends her out with Lenalee, because she really does behave like a shield if needed and seems to think that her survival is inconsequential next to the survival of humans.'

'This,' Allen paused. Lavi noted that his face was chalk-white. 'This is sick,' he finished and Lavi nodded, despite not feeling too strongly about the idea, being a Bookman and all. Having met Yuu and Alma, Lavi thought that the Second Exorcist Project was a horrible idea but had its advantages. When Kaori came around, he started doubting them, but the only way to know for sure was to see what would become of the third batch, already on their way to the headquarters with Bak Chang. The Asian Branch seemed to be taking much longer than expected to force synchronisation at an appropriate level and Yuu and Alma seemed to be an exception, having only taken less than a year to synchronise at nearly a hundred percent.

'You should have seen their reactions, Alma's and Yuu's, when Kaori arrived with Bak Chang,' Lavi muttered, remembering that day. Later on he found out that Yuu liked Bak, probably more than he liked anybody else save for Alma, and that was the only explanation he had found for why Bak Chang walked out of that situation alive and with all the pieces of him attached.

'I was there by accident, so I didn't see Alma greeting Kaori, nor did I hear her reply, but I saw him crying. I never had the guts to ask what she said,' Lavi said with a humourless laugh. 'Yuu was just standing there, looking blank, but this kind of lethal blank he gets sometimes and then you know that you have to seriously run. Thankfully, it has never been directed at me and I'm sure that Bak saw his life flash in front of his eyes back then,' he laughed again. 'Yuu never spoke to or of Kaori again. Alma tried to coax her out but failed and it nearly killed him. Now he avoids the topic of her or of the other Seconds as well.'

'And I thought that my life had been hard,' Allen muttered with a sigh.

'Why?' Lavi asked in an innocent tone. Inwardly, he hated himself a bit more than before, when Allen flashed him a sad smile and told him the story of his life, the story that Lavi carefully memorised, to put into his logs after dinner. He was good at his job, even if it sickened him.


	4. A boy who loved a Noah

**Ch. 3: A boy who loved a Noah**

Feeling lighter for having told Lavi his story, Allen followed the red-head to the canteen, to have dinner. As always, his stomach was grumbling angrily, demanding to be filled and, as always, Lavi was making fun of him as they walked. "Always", Allen realised with a start, only lasted for two weeks now, yet the time he had spent with Road prior to the arrival of the Exorcists seemed like another life.

Road, he thought sadly, are you really my enemy now? Surely Komui and everybody must be wrong because you are not evil. A person with a smile like that cannot be evil, right?

'What can I do for you?' asked Jerry the cook, snapping Allen out of his glum thoughts. He blinked and saw Lavi already waiting with a plate of curry and a piece of cheesecake. The cake looked mouth-watering, but then everything did when he was hungry.

'Cheesecake,' he exclaimed without thinking. 'And three portions of chicken curry and,' he paused because he had no idea what else to take. The cook laughed and promised the day's special, which, Allen soon found out was a ratatouille that also looked particularly appetising. He took his huge serving and followed Lavi to where the other teenagers were sitting. "Teenagers" still felt like a weird way to address Exorcists, even in his head.

'You guys never seem surprised at my eating habits,' he muttered after they had exchanged greetings and he and Lavi sat down, opposite to Alma and Daisya, who laughed at the comment.

'We've been eating with Alma for a while now,' Lavi pointed out cheerfully and Allen's eyes landed on a small bowl of what looked like mayonnaise. He blinked, because even his desperate stomach didn't think that eating a bowl of mayonnaise was a good idea.

'There are eggs underneath, he says,' Daisya informed him dryly, but he also looked a bit green at the thought of the dish. Allen nodded slowly, glancing at Kanda, when the latter scoffed. It came as no surprise to see the almost finished plate of soba in front of the samurai. He had never seen Kanda eat anything else, except for missions when soba was unavailable and he had to eat at least something to keep up with the task. Usually, those times coincided with the times when Kanda was in a particularly bad mood.

'Yeah, I see how that makes you immune to weirdness in terms of eating habits,' Allen muttered and tried the curry, discovering it delicious. In the meantime, Daisya informed Allen that the eating habits of Alma had calmed anyway, since he discovered what he liked and what he didn't and didn't ask for his dishes to be drowned in mayonnaise anymore.

'Jerry was having a fit every time Alma went to him and asked for mayonnaise to kill the taste of the dish, poor guy. You know how he prides himself for being able to amaze everybody's taste buds. Alma gave him quite a headache,' the Turk said with a laugh. 'I've been told that the cook in the Asian Branch was similar and he also had to deal with Kanda, before somebody had the brainwave to give him soba.'

'Couldn't you have just chosen the dishes you like?' Allen, who didn't understand the concept of not liking a dish, asked Alma, who blushed and mumbled something. 'What?'

'He said it's not your business beansprout,' Kanda growled, not looking up from his plate as he elegantly picked up the last of his noodles with chopsticks. The temperature around them seemed to drop and Allen realised that it would be smarter to let the topic slide.

'My name is Allen,' he said instead, glaring at Kanda, who glared back and said that he'd already expressed his feelings towards learning names and he was not going to repeat himself. 'Was he such an asshole to you guys as well, when you came around?' Allen asked, looking at Lavi and Daisya, ignoring Kanda's hissed "I'm still here".

'He seems to love you in particular,' Daisya admitted with a snigger. 'Maybe he gets nastier as he gets older,' he mused with a wicked grin. Lavi snorted into his hand, trying to disguise it as a cough, because laughing at Kanda was dangerous. Allen thought the samurai needed to chill out but he had yet to say that out loud.

'Maybe he will stab you,' Kanda growled threateningly. Allen was starting to get used to the fact that the threats were mostly empty, but they still made him flinch. His imagination was dutifully providing him with visualisations of Kanda's threats and they looked very realistic.

'Like you would,' Daisya laughed, which, Allen though, was not the smartest thing to do. 'Anyways, Allen, did you hear that Lenalee's on her way back?' he asked, smirking in a way that suggested Allen should be very eager to see the girl.

'Is she?' he asked back, feeling a treacherous blush colour his cheeks at the implications and hidden meanings in Daisya's comment. Lavi snorted again, this time openly. Allen elbowed him in the side, so that the stupid rabbit didn't think that he can mock him.

'Yeah,' Lavi confirmed. 'But you should watch out, because Komui is hugely overprotective of his little sister, so if he finds out-'

'Guys!' Allen exclaimed, feeling his face burn. Who the hell did they take him for? 'There is nothing to find out and you know it very well,' he protested. A wicked smirk stretched Lavi's lips as he asked whether Allen was sure, because Lenalee surely thought there could be. At that point, Alma giggled and Kanda got up, leaving the table wordlessly, creating a moment of stunned silence.

'Do you think Kanda's jealous of Allen?' Daisya asked, making Alma cackle. He was sure that it was by pure coincidence that Kanda had finished eating at that particular moment and left, but it was an amusing coincidence to exploit anyway. 'Allen, if you have not only Komui but also Kanda after you, then you are a dead man,' he added keeping his tone serious, even as the corners of his lips twitched. The thought of Kanda and Lenalee together didn't sink in properly, so he pushed it away. There was no way in hell it was even possible.

'If I was you, I wouldn't let Yuu hear that,' Alma informed Daisya. It took Allen a moment to understand the phrase and he realised that he couldn't blame Kanda for wanting to be called something other than "Yuu". Lavi snickered again, the expression on his face making Allen wonder if he took it as a mission to piss Kanda off.

'Well, he's probably off to chop something up in the training area,' Daisya dismissed the threat although he did look around, much to Lavi's and Alma's amusement. 'Back to the topic, Allen, because I have never seen Lenalee smile so sweetly at me or Kanda or even Alma here and he's a real charmer,' he added. Alma blushed furiously at his words.

'Oi, what about me?' Lavi demanded, sounding insulted to be omitted.

'Well Lavi, all the girls in the Order know that you need no encouragement to flirt with them,' Daisya shot back and it was Lavi's turn to blush. However, a Bookman apprentice didn't take lightly to being outsmarted and Daisya blushed, just as much as Alma had moments ago, when Lavi asked him if there was any particular reason why he was interested in Lenalee so much.

'Poor Daisya,' Alma cooed, a grin belying his tone. 'You do know that she'll never look at you that way, right?' he asked, which earned him a heated protest from Daisya and a question whether Alma could honestly say that he had never fantasised about Lenalee. The question made both Lavi and Alma blush harder and Allen blinked at them.

'Really?' he asked, because he never thought about Lenalee as more than a friend. He flinched when three incredulous gazes focused on him. 'Uh, I mean,' he started uncomfortably.

'Allen, have you actually seen Lenalee Lee?' Daisya asked slowly, as though he was talking to a five-year-old. Allen nodded. Of course he had seen Lenalee and she's probably pretty, but- 'Are you gay Allen? You should not say that out loud here, the church is kind of against it,' Daisya added with a wicked smile.

'Stop saying such stupid things,' Allen protested hotly. 'Just because my mind is not as perverted as yours it doesn't mean that-' he cut himself off, realising that they were all laughing. 'Seriously, you guys,' he muttered, ignoring Lavi's suggestion that maybe Allen was too young. He was not a kid, damn it.

'Maybe Allen has left somebody behind?' Alma suggested after a moment of silence and, unbidden, the image of smiling Road came to Allen's mind. He chased it away because Road was supposed to be the enemy, so he shouldn't be thinking about how pretty her smile was and how her eyes sparkled when she laughed. He didn't want her to be the enemy. He shook his head, suddenly feeling sad.

'I think I'll be going, you guys,' he said, getting up in the somewhat uncomfortable silence that fell between them. The smile that stretched his lips when he looked at them didn't seem convincing even to him, but he didn't feel like trying better, so he just left.

He didn't look where he was going, hoping that his feet would guide him to his room, where he could brood. However, his feet hadn't yet memorised the layout of the headquarters, the vast building that seemed to contain a never ending supply of unused corridors. Consequently, when he looked up after some time, he wasn't sure where he was.

Was there really somebody who had gotten lost and starved to death? He didn't want to believe Daisya's words, but the Turk couldn't possibly be always joking, right? He gulped, wondering if he should turn back or go on. Had he been going away from the central part of the building or had he turned at some point and was heading back?

The sound of footsteps was a blessing and, not thinking much, he ran in that direction. As soon as he turned the corner, he also saw light and he laughed in relief, catching up with a small group that, he realised quickly, contained Lenalee. The dinner conversation came back to him and he hoped that the others wouldn't see the blush he felt warming his cheeks.

'Allen,' she exclaimed, smiling brightly. 'Were you on your way to greet us?' she asked. He couldn't tell her that he had simply got lost, could he? But should he lie if Lenalee really might like him a bit more than usual? Komui, standing next to him was nearly glaring, but Allen couldn't guess whether it was a warning to not hurt Lenalee's feelings or to stay away from his precious, pure sister. He looked from one sibling to the other a couple of time, before another person caught his attention.

Standing next to Lenalee, looking at him emotionlessly, was a petite, young woman with Asian features and shoulder-long, straight, black hair that reminded Allen of Kanda. She could only be the girl Lavi had mentioned earlier that day. Short and thin, she looked pretty fragile, her uniform torn in many places and bloodied, bandages shining through a couple of larger tears. However, the impression of fragility was somewhat broken by the two, large machetes she was carrying. They gleamed even in the dull light of the torches and Allen didn't doubt that they were as sharp and well cared for as Kanda's Mugen was. He could only hope that the girl wasn't as eager to use her deadly weapons as Kanda was.

'Kaori, meet Allen Walker, a new Exorcist,' Komui's voice snapped Allen out of his thoughts. 'Kaori is a Second Exorcist,' he added. For some reason the fact that he felt the need to precise that felt like a punch to the stomach to Allen. It was like he was making a difference between the Exorcists and Kaori. Did he make a difference between the Exorcists and Alma and Kanda as well? The very idea sickened him although he wasn't entirely sure why.

'It is an honour to meet you, Master Exorcist,' Kaori spoke tonelessly, bowing deeply. Allen recoiled: what was that behaviour? He was still trying to wrap his head around what Lavi had told him earlier that day so it had surprised him. Kanda and Alma acted normally enough, so it was easy to forget that they were supposed to be crafted weapons, but this girl- He shook his head and forced on a smile.

'Please call me Allen, Kaori,' he said. 'It's a pleasure to meet you,' he added, noticing that no expression crossed Kaori's face at his words. A glance at Komui told Allen that the man was troubled and a glance at Lenalee revealed a sad expression.

'We should continue,' Komui commented. 'Kaori needs to be checked up by a doctor,' he added. Allen noted that Lenalee seemed unscratched and Lavi's words about Kaori acting like a shield came to his mind. It was somewhat revolting to find that they were probably true and even more so, that Lenalee had allowed it. Absent-mindedly, he fell into step with the small group.

'It's sad, isn't it?' Lenalee whispered to his ear. He glanced at her. 'I had hoped I'd have a friend when a girl came from the Asian Branch, but she's nothing like it and she doesn't even acknowledge the fact that we are equals,' she added.

'We are not equals, Master Exorcist,' Kaori said tonelessly, making Allen and Lenalee jump in surprise. 'My stamina and training far surpass your abilities. My senses are sharper and my regenerative seal-'

'Enough, Kaori,' Komui interrupted her, sounding somewhat upset. 'I have told you before that you should mind the life-time you have left and not risk your life unnecessarily.'

'You have also told me to protect the Exorcists with whom I am sent out,' she replied in the same, toneless voice. 'If my life runs out while I am carrying out your orders, I will have fulfilled my purpose,' she added.

Allen felt sick at her calm and cold words. Did she really think that the purpose of her life was to follow Komui's orders? Instinctively, Allen understood that she must have been taught that at some point, because no human being was like that. Who, with their soul and heart in the right places, could have taught anybody such a philosophy? Kaori was created by the Black Order's scientists, so the answer seemed obvious.

What had he gotten himself into? Wasn't the Black Order supposed to be the good guys?

'Brother, I'm fine so maybe I can go to have a dinner with Allen,' Lenalee suggested, smiling. Through her smile, Allen could see worry, probably for him, but he couldn't find it in him to appreciate the gesture. He shook his head even as Komui nodded, and said that he had already eaten. Lenalee's smile faltered, before returning even brighter.

'I'll grab something quick then and we can go somewhere quiet to rest a bit,' she suggested. 'You've also just returned from your mission, haven't you?' she asked.

'Yeah, and I'm a bit tired, so I guess that I'll go to my room and sleep,' he replied, hoping that she wouldn't take it badly. He knew that Daisya and Lavi had been right and Lenalee did smile at him in a different way than she smiled at the others. He had seen women react to his Master and he was well aware of the similarities between their behaviour and that of Lenalee. Not being like his Master, he didn't want to give Lenalee even the smallest hint that her feelings might be returned.

'Oh,' was all the girl said, before looking down. On Komui's face, satisfaction was fighting for dominance with sadness and, grateful to be back in the part of the building he knew, Allen excused himself quickly. He went down the corridor towards his room and then, when Lenalee, Komui and Kaori disappeared behind a corner, he changed his direction. He wanted fresh air so, instead of going to his room, he went to one of the inner courtyards, surprised when he saw Alma sitting there, meditating.

'Allen,' Alma whispered just when Allen was turning around to leave Alma undisturbed. 'I wanted to apologise,' he added, effectively stopping Allen in his tracks.

'What for?' he asked, turning back to Alma and coming closer, so that they didn't have to speak too loud. He didn't want Lenalee to discover that he had lied, should she wander the corridors rather than going to eat.

'For my comment during the dinner,' Alma said as though it was obvious, now watching calmly how Allen sat down in front of him, crossing his legs to mimic Alma's position. There was something in him that reminded Allen of Kaori, something in his posture: relaxed but ready to pounce, should a danger produce itself. 'I know much more about feelings than I used to know, but sometimes I still make mistakes and I'm sorry for bringing up sad memories. I know how it is to leave somebody behind,' Alma added, completely breaking the similarity with the sadness in his tone.

Allen, who wanted to say that it really wasn't a problem and that Alma should not worry, paused. Who could have been the person whom Alma had left behind? After all, from what Lavi said, Alma and Kanda didn't have parents or family and they had come together to the headquarters.

'Have you met Kaori?' Alma asked quietly, as though reading his mind. He sighed when Allen replied positive. 'She had just woken up when me and Yuu were ready to leave,' he said. Allen blinked, trying to make sense out of the phrase for a moment. 'We had to leave her behind, but Doctor Edgar said that she and Jirou would be joining us as soon as they synchronise with their Innocence.'

'Why are you telling me this?' Allen asked quietly, barely whispering. He knew that the boy named "Jirou" had never made it, so it was obvious where Alma was going with this: he shouldn't have left because then Kaori wouldn't have been alone. He could see that the topic bothered Alma, even though the other shrugged in reply.

'I'm not sure. I guess I'd like you to forgive me for that comment. Or maybe I'm wondering if I have made a mistake following my orders?' Alma asked back with another shrug. 'Back then I made a decision to protect something precious though and I cannot make myself regret that decision either, so maybe life is just cruel that way.'

Allen sighed. It didn't take a genius to realise what was the precious thing Alma had chosen to protect, but Allen had made no such decision, had he? Could he have not gone to the Black Order? Maybe he could have gone with Road to wherever she was going, but he had a self-appointed mission to purge the world of demons and the only way to do it efficiently was to join the Black Order. Was that his precious thing he had chosen to fight for? It wasn't what he thought it would be, the Order. The building sure was imposing, but inside it was filled with welcoming people, with people he knew he would soon call friends. He hadn't expected half of the Exorcists to be barely older than himself, he hadn't expected them to be so much like normal people. He winced, because he hadn't expected them to be quite as inhuman as Kaori either, so was it just him who was confused?

'I guess life is just cruel that way,' he muttered.

* * *

**Merry Christmas to you all and remember: reviews are the best gifts ever ;) (if I get enough I might find time to make another update this year, hehe)**


	5. Those who do not die

**Ch. 4: Those who do not die**

He wished that Komui had let him and Alma go out on a mission, come back when the fuss about the two new Seconds died down a bit. He knew, from Bak, that the new ones were more like Kaori than Alma and himself and the disastrous first meeting with Kaori was still a sharp memory in his mind, despite nearly four years having passed since then. He wished he could avoid her and the new ones entirely because, while he had never considered himself human, Kaori was a painful reminder just how inhuman he was, or was supposed to be.

At the very least, Komui could have sent Alma away, Kanda thought angrily, glancing at his "brother", who had been a bundle of nerves for a week now. Being nervous is a human reaction, said a bitter voice in his head and he scowled harder. Some Finder that was just passing by mistook the scowl as directed at him and flinched, hurrying along the way. As though Kanda would bother with such insignificant beings!

'Mei and Sora,' Alma said. 'Do you remember them?' he asked. Erasing the scowl from his face, Kanda looked at him as though he had lost his mind. 'Right, right, wrong question,' Alma laughed nervously.

'Would you stop that?' he asked, forcing anger out of his tone. Next to him and Alma, Kaori was standing motionlessly, looking ahead at nothing and being a perfect weapon they were also supposed to be. Kanda hated her almost as much as he hated the scientists who had created them. Sometimes, when Alma tried to talk with her and she ignored him, he hated her even more.

'They were sleeping just next to us, you know,' Alma continued, ignoring Kanda's question completely. 'I used to think that Mei was going to wake up any moment because I could swear she was moving, but then you woke up instead.'

'Sorry to disappoint,' Kanda muttered somewhat bitterly, wincing at Alma's outraged cry of protest and then silencing his insistent assurances that he was happy Yuu had been the one to wake up. They both felt completely silent when Komui arrived, together with Reever and the Head Nurse.

Unbidden, the memories of his own arrival, flooded his mind and for a moment Kanda was lost in the fear and confusion, before he shook his head and cleared those emotions away. Mei and Sora would not be afraid or confused, because they were older than he and Alma had been. They were the same age, more or less, as Kanda, Alma and Kaori, which meant that they woke up older. Also, they had been training for longer because, while their first synchronisation had come almost immediately, reaching an appropriate rate had been rather slow according to Bak.

It spared them the pain of synchro-testing, muttered the bitter voice in Kanda's head, nearly drowning out Komui's greeting of the guests. Stiffening with apprehension, he kept his head turned away slightly throughout the exchanged greetings, resentful just in case the new Seconds deserved it. He didn't even listen to the words that were being exchanged, but he did notice the silence that fell. He ignored it as well.

'Yuu,' Alma scolded him in a whisper and he glared at the two new arrivals, assuming that something had been said about him and he was expected to greet them. The girl, Mei, was a carbon copy of Kaori, with long, straight, black hair and a fragile kind of look, except she wore a small smile that threw Kanda off-balance. The boy, or rather the young man, Sora, was not smiling but his face didn't look as carefully blank as Kaori's either. He bore a significant resemblance to Alma, which the latter noted out loud.

'Yes, I've been told that,' Sora replied to Alma, his tone neither friendly nor cold. It was obvious that neither of the newcomers would be like Alma, but maybe they would at least act normally, Kanda thought and immediately scolded himself: they were not "normal", not the way he had meant it.

'He also has a parasitic Innocence, like you,' Bak prompted and Alma looked even more enthusiastic, insisting that Sora and Mei show them their weapons. Komui looked apprehensive, so Kanda repeated Alma's request, shocking everybody by speaking up. He glared at the room in general. Was he not allowed to talk now?

With a smirk and a flash of green light, Sora grew a pair of huge wings that seemed to have blades instead of feathers. Despite himself, Kanda had to admit that he was impressed. Of course he only admitted it to himself, while Alma expressed his amazement with enough enthusiasm for the both of them.

'You're such a show off, Sora,' Mei grumbled sourly and pulled out a number of shuriken. Next to Sora's wings they looked unimpressive, but Kanda supposed that, next to what Alma could grow out of his arm, so did Mugen. He said nothing.

'You all seem to like sharp stuff a lot,' Komui mumbled and, with some satisfaction, Kanda noted that he was standing slightly further away. Mei, wearing a nasty smirk, asked whether he would like her to present the efficiency with which she could throw the shuriken.

'Wow, Yuu, she's not only similar to you in looks but also in character,' Alma whispered to him. Kanda's eyes widened: what did he mean by "similar in looks"? He glared, annoyed at the words and at showing his reaction, if even for a split of a second.

'Are you saying that I look like a girl?' he growled, half ready to draw Mugen and show his brother just how not-girly he was. Bak's laughter, however, stopped him in his tracks.

'I see you two haven't changed at all,' Bak said, smiling fondly at him and Alma. Kanda realised that it was an expression reserved just for the two of them, while other Seconds only got politeness. He didn't like how pleasant that realisation felt. 'I have some things to discuss with Komui now, but you two can show Mei and Sora around and we can catch up later?' he suggested. Mei and Sora exchanged looks that Kanda couldn't quite interpret.

'Sure thing,' Alma replied lightly, while Kanda nodded curtly. He was at least going to be polite to the newcomers, as long as they didn't upset Alma.

'I shall retreat to my quarters,' Kaori announced, bowed to Komui and Bak, and left. Mei said something to Sora, to which the man nodded before his wings disappeared in another flash of green light. It seemed like those two were "human" enough to have opinions, Kanda thought, which Kaori didn't seem to have at all.

'Well, that was expected I suppose,' Alma muttered. Kanda pursed his lips at how disappointed he sounded, but said nothing. He mostly said nothing all the time after all. 'Shall we go? It's dinner time so I guess we can meet some other Exorcists first and then we can have a quick tour if you'd like,' Alma said, turning to the newcomers.

'That sounds good,' Sora replied, polite and neutral. 'Is she that way all the time?' he asked when they left Komui's office.

'Kaori?' Alma asked back. 'Yup, she's pretty much like that all the time,' he said after getting a nod from Sora.

'Sirlins put her as role model for us,' Mei informed them very matter-of-factly. Kanda wanted to say where Sirlins could put his models, but he restrained himself. 'We tried of course, but it's impossible to be like that when you're out there with people who go out of their way to spoil you.'

'Spoil you?' Kanda repeated despite himself. There wasn't much spoiling that he remembered from his time in the Sixth Institute. The word didn't really associate with either the synchro-testing or their Crow guards. Mei nodded

'Sure thing that Twi and Edgar are pretty strict, but they're around only for the synchro-testing and that lasted what, three days?' she said. Sora corrected that it was two and Kanda hated them at that moment. He had lost count on the days or nights or whatever it was that it has taken him to synchronise with Mugen. And all that was for nothing since he had synchronised spontaneously, when Alma had gained an upper hand in a fight and he knew he would probably die. Alma had synchronised in response to the sudden, gleaming threat.

'Right, two days, then some testing and we were out of Twi's loving embrace,' Mei concluded with a shrug, like it wasn't a big deal. She added how the Crows were scary, but made mostly the background decoration if one was reasonable. Kanda's hand twitched while he went through all the reasons as to why he should not attack the girl, trying to convince himself that they were important enough. He froze when a hand slipped into his and looked, wide-eyed at Alma, who smiled at him. There was a sharp edge to that smile, but it was a smile nevertheless and it said "it's in the past" and that was the truth.

'So Sirlins was in charge of you two after the synchronisation?' Alma asked, letting go of Kanda's hand, apparently reassured that Kanda wouldn't do anything rash. Mei nodded, while Sora said that Sirlins apparently thought that Bak Chang and Renée Epstein had had a bad influence on the first successful Seconds, so he took over. He said that with a small smirk, making Alma giggle and provoking questions about every person from the Sixth Institute team that Alma could remember.

By the time Mei and Sora were done answering Alma's questions, intertwined with comments about the building sections they were passing, they reached the canteen. Alma launched into lengthy introductions, because Lavi, Lenalee, Daisya and Allen were already there, about to put themselves into the queue for food. Kanda ignored most of the discussion, but he saw the apprehensive look in Allen's eyes when he shook hands with Mei and Sora. He frowned slightly, before schooling his features into a bored kind of scowl. He also saw Lavi's calculating gaze, but he looked away when it turned to him.

'This is so amazing,' Lavi noted a second later and, worried about what had gotten him so excited, Kanda looked back at him. The stupid rabbit was grinning all he was worth and just that expression in itself made Kanda's hand reach for Mugen's hilt. 'Mei looks just like Yuu, don't you think?'

With a metallic sound, Mugen was out and Kanda was growling at Lavi for having used his first name, because he wasn't going to acknowledge the implication of Lavi's words. The stupid rabbit grinned and opened his mouth, but Alma beat him to it, saying that the two of them were scaring the newcomers and that they should behave like the adults they were. With a scowl, Kanda put Mugen away and glared at the surprised and somewhat amused expressions on Mei's and Sora's faces. Were they laughing at him?

Wordlessly, he went to pick up his food and then found an empty table, while everybody else was still waiting to get their food. Unfortunately, that meant they could sit next to him, like they all liked, but he ignored them to the best of his abilities and the meal passed without much fuss. Next to the "normal" Exorcists, Mei and Sora did seem a bit stiff and overly serious, so Kanda supposed that Bak had been correct in his descriptions. They also said, at some point during the discussion, that they did understand how their lives, so easy to get back, were not worth as much as the lives of Exorcists. It hurt how truthful that felt, despite the appealed looks of the "normal" Exorcists. After all, wasn't that the only reason why he had saved the stupid beansprout, despite his own harsh words?

Despite his quiet agreement about the worth of his life, Kanda found himself appreciating the heart-felt protests of the Exorcists, even if he suspected that it was more due to Alma's friendliness than himself. It felt good to know that the people for whom he would sacrifice his life, however insignificant that sacrifice was in his case, were prepared to value the gesture and even strive to protect the said life if they could. Nevertheless, he would never say that out loud and the heated argument about the value of human life, no matter where that life originated from was tiring. He was grateful when he and Alma could excuse themselves to go and talk with Bak, letting the others give Mei and Sora a tour.

He would never admit it out loud, but he was looking forward to it, probably even more so than Alma did, which must have been the exception of exceptions. Usually it was impossible to look forward to anything with more enthusiasm than Alma, unless possibly if you were Allen Walker, he amended with a mental wince. That kid could give Alma a run for his money when it came to optimism and enthusiasm.

Arriving to Komui's office, he heard "urgent" as Alma knocked and opened the door. As they entered, Bak was taking the phone from Reever, telling the person on the other end that he was listening. Then his eyes widened and his face paled and Kanda knew that, whatever the message was, it was not good. Reever told Komui that it was somebody from the Asian Branch. A number of possibilities, each worse than the other, rushed through Kanda's head as Bak dropped the receiver and staggered back. Acting on an instinct, he rushed forward and caught the man before he could fall down.

'Hello?' Komui called, grabbing the receiver. 'This is supervisor Komui Lee, what is going on?' he asked firmly. He too opened his eyes wide and paled. 'I understand. Keep the section locked and we shall dispatch the Seconds immediately,' he said in a wavering kind of voice. Kanda and Alma exchanged confused glances.

'Of course,' Komui said. 'I will inform him. Yes, thank you,' he finished and hung up. Bak seemed to get a better hold of himself, but there was something desperate in his expression. Komui told him to sit down and so Kanda led the shocked man to the sofa when Bak hadn't reacted to the suggestion himself.

'What happened?' Alma asked, looking from one man to the other. Komui glanced at Bak and then sighed heavily. 'I demand that you tell me, supervisor,' Alma insisted, but Komui's only reaction was to purse his lips. Kanda opened his mouth to back up Alma's demand.

'Just before I left the Asian Branch with Mei and Sora,' Bak started quietly. Kanda and Alma looked at him attentively. 'Another girl managed to synchronise. She woke up alone and she was the first of the second batch, that is one of the bodies they brought up in the already emptied pools. Mother said that she had trouble to synchronise, much like the two of you, but she had managed.'

'That is good news, right?' Alma asked cautiously, because Bak didn't sound happy about the story at all.

'Wait,' Kanda said with a frown. 'Mother?' he asked and Alma's eyes widened as he seemed to realise the importance of that detail as well. Bak smiled sadly.

'Section chief Twi Chang was my mother,' he told them, his tone somewhat dead. Were his eyes welling up with tears? 'And Doctor Edgar was my father,' he added, his voice barely audible. His eyes were definitely swimming in tears.

'Was?' Alma repeated with hesitation. There was only one possibility and Kanda knew now what the person on the phone had said. Alma bit his lip, looking like he was going to cry any moment. Kanda knew that he genuinely liked Doctor Edgar at the very least.

'Akiko is the name of the girl,' Bak spoke up after a while of heavy silence. Whatever did that have to do with- 'Her parasitic Innocence allows her to produce electricity and she had literally fried all the staff of the Sixth Institute for reasons unknown,' he finished to the sound of Alma's sharp breath intake.

'Fou, the guardian of the Asian Branch, managed to seal the Sixth Institute off completely,' Komui said in a business voice, although it had a strained kind of quality to it. 'However, they are pretty defenceless against an Exorcist that does not die and she is threatening to obliterate everybody she meets, as soon as she gets out. Fou can only hold her for so long, so you have to hurry. Go and get Kaori, Mei and Sora: you are leaving immediately,' he announced. 'Trains will be arranged as you go and whenever there is no immediate connection, a carriage will be waiting to take you on to the next point. There is not a minute to lose.'

'Lavi will go to observe,' said Bookman, making them all, except for Bak, look at him in shock. When did he come in? Was he there all the time? Kanda hated it when somebody managed to surprise him, but right now he was in no state to react. The news was just sinking in and he realised that they were being sent to exterminate one of them.

How do you eliminate somebody who does not stay dead?


	6. The mercy of the Noah

**Ch. 5: The mercy of the Noah**

It was a warm, starry night and Allen couldn't sleep. Next to him, Daisya was breathing rhythmically, in and out, in and out, asleep. How could he sleep on a night like that? Somewhere in the trees an owl was hooting quietly and the delicate wind was carrying an even quieter rustle of the leaves. Was it because it was so peaceful that he couldn't sleep? Or was he subconsciously waiting for a disturbance? They seemed to always come, the disturbances, whether he wanted them or not.

They were still a two-day-trek away from the Innocence, there should be no demons around and, should they appear, his eye would wake him up anyway, he thought. He needed to preserve his strength for the time when he would need to fight, he needed to be well rested if he couldn't be well-fed. As though on cue, his stomach growled and he blushed in shame.

'That kid is impossible,' he heard one of the Finders accompanying them say, indicating that he wasn't the only one awake. His blush intensified, if the burning feeling in his cheeks was any indication. At least it was dark and they probably weren't looking, he thought. He wasn't going to open his eyes to verify that. 'If I ate what he ate, I would be tumbling around, as wide as I am tall,' the Finder added, making the other Finder snort. Allen realised that he could not remember their names and it felt bad.

'Thankfully I went shopping,' the other Finder said and the first one asked whether he had also called the headquarters. With nothing else to do, Allen listened to their conversation. Maybe he would at least get some information, since he had been away for a couple of days now. 'Sure I did. The supervisor treats them like kids and we're the babysitters, aren't we? I couldn't let that guy worry if those two brats had forgotten to check in again,' he complained bitterly. Allen ignored the unfriendly tone of the Finder as he blushed again, because he realised that they had, in fact, forgotten to check in with Komui. He would make sure they didn't forget the day after. He didn't want Komui to worry, that man had enough on his plate as it was, even Allen knew that.

'Any news?' he heard and focused on the conversation again.

'Not official, but people are talking,' said the Finder who had done the shopping. Allen was already familiar with the opinion that the Finders liked to gossip and, with every mission, he was getting a confirmation of that. 'Something big had happened just before we'd left. It's being kept quiet, but there's only for so long that you can hide the fact that six Exorcists are missing, right? It's not like there's so many of them,' he said, not sounding particularly bothered. Allen felt a chill run down his spine. What did the man mean by "missing"? He was itching to ask, but he had already learnt that the Finders shut up as soon as they realised an Exorcist was listening. Unless that had been Kanda's personal charm of course, he amended but stayed quiet just in case.

'Missing?' the other Finder asked, sounding more curious than worried.

'Figuratively speaking,' the first one amended. 'All the damned Seconds probably got sent out together somewhere and that means some serious shit hit the fan, right?' he asked. That meant five Exorcists, Allen commented internally. 'Lavi got sent with them for some reason, poor chap,' the Finder added. It seemed like an unlikely mix: Lavi and the Seconds.

'All the- They barely ever send two out together,' the other Finder protested. Allen hadn't been around long enough to judge: he'd only ever gone out with one of the Seconds and, as far as he remembered, there hadn't been a mission that deployed two. The first Finder said that the rumour is something went bad with the Project, and the way he said it sounded like a capital "P", in the Asian Branch. Could he mean the project that created the Second Exorcists?

'Maybe they're calling them back for repairs,' the other laughed. Allen frowned in confusion, until he realised that the Finders were obviously aware of the nature of the Second Exorcists. His frown deepened as he registered the tone the Finder had used.

'What, they need to exchange the stick up Kaori's ass?' the first one joined him and they started exchanging crude comments about the girl. For a moment, Allen stared up at the sky in shock, his mind having trouble to process the sudden change in the conversation. Then he gritted his teeth, wondering if he should let them know that they were overstepping their borders because they reminded him too much of the drunkards he had encountered. Kaori certainly did not deserve this kind of comments. He was about to speak up when the tone of the conversation changed, shocking him into silence again.

'You just want to fuck her,' one of the Finders accused finally. Allen's eyes widened again. How could those men talk like that about Kaori? The mental image of a fragile looking girl came unbidden to his head and, although he knew that she was anything but fragile, he couldn't shake it off. She was just seventeen or eighteen and the two Finders were probably well into their thirties! 'You're saying all that stuff like you hated her and all you want is to have her against the wall,' the Finder repeated.

'Like you're the one to talk,' the other Finder shot back, sounding irritated. Surely, Allen thought, I'm having some auditory hallucinations. 'Wanting to fuck her doesn't mean that I have to like her, only that she's hot, right? At least I want to do a girl, although that arrogant asshole sure looks like one, so maybe you're excused,' he added with a nasty laugh.

What? Did he really just hear that? Surely he must have misunderstood those two because there was no way in hell they were talking about-

'Ah, Kanda,' one of the Finders muttered, the dreamy tone of his voice making Allen feel sick at the implications. His imagination was providing him with images that he really, but really did not want to see. 'It's not like he's human, so it doesn't count for the church, right?' the Finder added, shocking Allen for the third time during the short conversation and out of the disturbing images. That was more than enough, he decided and opened his mouth.

'Oi,' Daisya called calmly, mimicking Kanda's accent pretty well, and the Finders fell silent immediately with strangled gasps of fear. Allen realised that he hadn't even noticed when Daisya's rhythmic breathing pattern had changed, he was so shocked by the conversation. 'I don't know about Kaori, but I'm sure Kanda would like to know just what you two had said and implied. You think I should tell him once we're back?' the Turk asked, his tone light and conversational. Allen didn't even want to imagine what Kanda would have done to the two Finders had he found out what they'd just said. The Order would be lucky if they found enough pieces to bury.

'Sir Exorcist,' the one who was apparently interested in Kanda exclaimed, his voice trembling with fear, at having been caught Allen supposed. 'We didn't know- I mean we didn't want to wake you up,' he corrected himself hastily.

'Obviously,' Daisya sneered derisively. 'But now I'm awake and I heard more than I would have liked to so shut your traps or I will show you how exactly we're stronger than you idiots,' he threatened, all pretence of friendliness gone from his tone.

'Daisya,' Allen scolded him quietly. It was that kind of attitude that had earned Kanda his reputation and the hate of just about every Finder in the Black Order and a couple of Exorcists too. Surely there was a different solution than insulting each others and Allen was damned if he would not try his best to fix the situation.

'Allen,' Daisya deadpanned. 'You heard what they said. They're not the first ones and probably not the last ones either. Not all the Finders are nice and friendly, as you might have noticed just now, and I'm not going to take that shit from them. We're slaving away for their sake,' he added angrily.

'It's not like we're on a leisure trip here,' one of the Finders replied just as angrily. 'We know you're better, but if you didn't rub it in our faces constantly, it would be easier to work with you,' he added. There was some truth in what he had said, but it didn't erase the memory of their discussion and Allen decided that the only choice he had was to side with Daisya on that one.

'Shut it,' Daisya growled, sitting up. 'I want to know all about the mission to the Asian Branch,' he ordered in a tone worthy of Kanda. For a moment Allen thought the Finders would rebel and a brawl would break out, because he was sure that Daisya was in a foul mood. However, something happened then that changed the course of the events.

'So there really is a mission that grouped all the Seconds the Order has,' whispered a familiar voice next to Allen's ear. He almost jumped out of his skin in shock, before turning and finding himself face to face with none other than Road. She smiled. 'Hi Allen,' she said.

'Road,' Allen whispered, blinking at his thoughts raced. What was she doing there? It was her alright, but her skin had a weird, ashen colour and there were stigmata on her forehead and Allen's world crumbled because he couldn't escape the truth anymore. Road was a Noah.

'Did you miss me?' she asked and then her smile faded. 'Or do you hate me now that you know who I am? I didn't hate you when you said you would become an Exorcist, you know?' in a harsher tone.

As his shock was slowly wearing off, Allen realised that there should have been more noise around and a chill ran down his spine. Unwillingly, he looked away from Road, even though a voice in his head screamed that it was a deadly mistake. Both Finders were lying in impossible poses and there was a tall, human-shaped shadow holding Daisya, one arm across the chest, trapping his arms and a hand over his mouth. Allen's heart skipped a beat. Daisya was struggling, but the shadow seemed to be stronger.

'They're off to the Asian Branch, you heard them Road,' the shadow said in a cold, distinctively male voice. Allen's heart sped up as he realised that the enemy was probably going to prepare a trap for the Seconds and Lavi. 'Let's get rid of those two as well and leave. We need to warn Skinn and Jasdevi,' the shadow added.

'Tykki,' Road protested with a pout. 'I told you already that we're not killing Allen and I guess he doesn't want us to kill that other kid either, so we're leaving them alive,' she added speaking slowly, as though she was explaining something to a child. Allen wasn't sure what to think about her words. He tried to look around for any advantage he might have. Not even for a second did he doubt that, at the first sign of attack from his side, the hand over Daisya's mouth would twist the Exorcist's head to break his spine.

'Don't try anything funny kid,' the shadow, Tykki, warned. 'This is the most idiotic idea you've ever had, Road,' he growled afterwards. 'What do you think they are going to do if we let them go? They will warn those abominations and-' he stopped because Daisya picked that moment to struggle for freedom with renewed vigour. 'Cut the crap kid and be happy that Road doesn't want you to die or you'd already be singing with the angels. Not that a murderer like you would ever go to heaven or something.'

'You're digressing, Tykki,' Road noted with a laugh. Then she turned to Allen. 'We're going to leave you alive if you promise to keep this meeting to yourself,' she offered. Allen shook his head.

'You must be out of your mind if you think that I will stay quiet while you ambush my comrades,' he said seriously, discarding their only chance at survival. However, there was no real choice in the matter and he knew that Daisya agreed with him. Much to his surprise, Road smiled charmingly and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "that's my Allen".

'We just wanted to know, you see,' she said. Something sharp appeared in her hand and Allen stiffened, ready to jump away when she'd attack. 'The Earl has gone berserk when he had learnt about the Second Exorcists and I guess that your stupid scientists making them look Japanese did not help. We all knew that he wanted to get rid of them, but sending two Noah after five at once?' she paused. Somewhere behind Allen, Daisya screamed in pain and, instinctively, Allen activated his Innocence, glaring at Road.

He really did not want to fight her, he thought mournfully.

'You see, Noah are not immortal, not really,' she continued as though nothing had happened. 'I'm sure that both Skinn and Jasdevi can take on one or two Exorcists each, but what do you do when your enemy doesn't stay dead? They kill two, there's still three to go and by the time they kill another two, the first ones are back in the fight and so on,' she mused. Then a wicked smile twisted her lips and Allen realised that it was a trap.

Too late did he hear the sound behind him. As he turned, something sharp embedded itself in his shoulder and then stars danced in front of his eyes as something hard hit his head. He felt himself fall, hitting the ground with a grunt of pain.

'I like you Allen,' Road whispered somewhere far away. He tried to look at her, but his vision was swimming. 'The Earl told us to kill you, but I don't feel like obeying the person who had just sent two of my siblings to a sure death, so you'll live this time. Next time, you might not be so lucky,' she promised. Then lips touched his in a chaste kiss. 'Sleep well, Allen Walker,' Road whispered.

Everything went dark and quiet.


	7. The secret of the fruitless blossoms

**Ch. 6: The secret of the fruitless blossoms**

The trip to the Asian Branch was a rushed and depressing affair. Stuck in various compartments and carriages with five, mostly silent Seconds and a grieving Branch Chief, only stopping for as long as it took to change trains or carriages, the Bookman Junior decided to tone down his persona. Lavi's jokes would be neither appropriate nor appreciated, so he opted for silence and observation, occasionally playing mind games with himself to not go crazy with boredom.

Lavi had never interacted much with Bak Chang, now orphaned and made to be the Chief of the Asian Branch, after his mother had been apparently brutally murdered. He knew that the man was in charge of the second stage of Second Exorcist Project, personally responsible for Yuu, and he knew that something happened between him and Yuu that made the latter like Bak while he hated everybody else in the Asian Branch. He knew that Bak was an excellent scientist and that he truly merited his new position, even though there would surely be many who would begrudge him for getting it, despite the circumstances. He knew that Bak was generally a cheerful person who smiled fondly at Yuu and Alma and perhaps considered them as younger siblings.

Right now, Bak Chang was a grief-stricken man, silent or quietly conversing with Alma, who looked to be equally shaken by the tragedy that had occurred in the institute which had created him. Alma was the only of the Seconds who showed any feelings, openly crying on Kanda's shoulder on several occasions, while his "brother" looked ahead with an expression of forced boredom. Lavi supposed that all five of the Seconds, with the possible exception of Kaori, were shaken by the events. From the little conversations he had had with Mei and Sora, he had gathered that their experiences in the Sixth Institute had not been nearly as horrifying as those of Alma and Yuu.

'There are some things you need to know,' Bak said quietly, breaking the uncomfortable silence that hovered between them since they had gotten on the carriage, the one that would finally deliver them to the Asian Branch. Lavi was looking forward to having solid ground under his feet, instead of the wobbling floors of trains and carriages. Nobody answered to Bak's statement, but all the Seconds looked at him attentively and so did Lavi.

'Akiko, like all of you, is pretty much immortal,' the Branch Chief continued, looking at his hands. Lavi forced his concentration to go back to the highest levels, hoping to recover at least some of the truth behind the creation of the artificial Apostles. 'All of you have been equipped in a magical core, designed to make you regenerate. As long as it is working, you all will recover from anything that can be done, as far as it had been tested. The core is a sphere placed inside your bodies, instead of a heart, below the tattoo,' Bak said. Lavi's eyes widened. Did that man just say the Seconds were literally heartless?

'But we need to kill her,' Sora pointed out. He didn't sound happy about the task and not for the first time, Lavi wondered if it was a smart idea to send the Seconds to kill one of them. Bak nodded with a grimace.

'How can we do it if she'll recover from everything?' Alma asked. He had been appointed the leader of this mission and Komui explicitly ordered Kaori to follow Alma's every order. Why Komui had chosen Alma, Lavi wasn't sure, although the long experience as an Exorcist sure played a role. He couldn't have chosen Kaori and the two new ones were unknowns, so Komui probably preferred to trust Alma, Yuu being a rather unpredictable person.

'There is just one way,' Bak sighed and produced a small box from his baggage. 'This is a simple container that I had made into a restraining spell. You need to take the core out of Akiko's body and lock it inside. The spell will prevent the body to be recreated around the core,' he explained in a strained tone. Alma looked a bit green on his face. Lavi felt sick as well, remembering that the target would be a ten year old girl, probably very much alike Alma and Yuu had been when they had woken up.

'Tell us about her capacities,' Kanda said calmly, taking the box from Bak. Lavi saw him put the other hand over Alma's in a gesture of sympathy he hadn't thought Kanda was capable of. Then again, the samurai hadn't once pushed Alma away when he wanted to cry, even though he offered no outward consolation. Lavi supposed that Kanda was more human than he liked to appear, at least towards his self-proclaimed brother. As he mentally catalogued the new information and conclusions, he wondered if Mei and Sora had a similar bond.

'She has parasitic Innocence that takes form of electricity,' Bak replied, audibly trying to force his voice to sound neutral or emotionless. 'I heard that she had similar problems as you and Alma, but when she synchronised it was to a very high rate, like you and Alma again,' he said. It sounded like useless information, but Lavi knew that it was the most delicate way in which Bak could say that Akiko had gone through hell alone and came out powerful. 'The nature of her Innocence allows her long-distance attacks, which is why we cannot have you simply knock her out and hand her over to the scientists. I'm sorry that we are making you kill her.'

'Do you know why she had killed everybody?' Kanda asked, ignoring the apology. Bak didn't seem affected and Lavi figured that he must be more than familiar with Kanda's character, Mei and Sora, however, looked somewhat surprised at the lack of reaction. They said nothing. Alma took the magical box out of his hand and looked at it carefully, before giving it back to Yuu.

'When I was leaving, I heard that they were getting ready to transfer her to the second stage,' Bak said with a sigh. 'It seems that she had somehow found out some details of the process of creation of the Second Exorcists and it had sent her over the edge,' he answered the question in a guarded tone. It was obvious that he knew the details of the project and that he was not willing to share it with the Seconds sitting in the carriage. Tensing, Lavi waited for any of them to ask, but they didn't. Did they not want to know?

Had they known that they had no hearts? Lavi was still trying to wrap his head around that idea, even as his brain said that it explained the low blood pressure and, in turn, the lower temperature of their bodies. He had been often enough in the hospital at the same time as either Yuu or Alma and had noticed that their blood pressure was nearly half of what a healthy human should have. It had freaked him out the first time, but he had gotten used to it and it did explain why they were so cold to touch. Not that he had touched either of them a lot. Even Alma seemed to keep to himself, physically, and Lavi had always wondered if the coldness was a reason.

He had never asked for the reason behind the low blood pressure, however, and the files he had access to did not provide an answer. A lack of heart could explain that, even though the Seconds had to have something to pump the blood through their systems. The genetic engineering done on the project suddenly seemed more interesting and the Bookman's soul in Lavi craved more information. Were there any other things that differed the Seconds from human beings?

The carriage stopped and the door was opened, snapping Lavi out of his thoughts. They had arrived, he thought nervously as Kanda stopped Bak from getting out the first. Mei and Sora jumped out nimbly instead. Only when Sora stuck his head back in and said that it was safe, did Kanda allow Lavi and Bak to leave the carriage.

'Bak,' somebody cried. A girl jumped onto the Branch Chief, wrapping her hands around his neck as she fervently assured him that she had tried her best to stop it. Lavi stared, blinking at the scene until Bak told the girl that it was alright, even though it clearly wasn't, and used her name: Fou. Who would have thought that a guardian spirit would have a form of a cute girl?

'How long can you hold on, Fou?' Alma asked and the girl turned to him, smiling.

'Hey Alma,' she said and he replied in the same tone. 'I can give you guys a couple of hours more at the maximum. I'm really at my limits here.'

'Excellent,' Alma said, sounding determined. 'We'll just take a moment to gather some energy and then you can drop the barrier Fou, we'll occupy that girl,' he promised and apologised for having taken so long to arrive. Afterwards, they were shown inside and, profiting from the general chaos, Lavi had slipped away to carry out one of the tasks the old panda had given him, one that he was genuinely eager to do.

The chaos ruling in the Asian Branch meant that nobody stopped an Exorcist. Nobody even paid him much attention, because all the focus was on the Seconds and the hope they brought, as he made his way to the section designed as "archives" and picked the lock on the door saying "Second Exorcist Project", thinking that he was pretty lucky it had been so easy.

Inside, the room was empty, except for numerous filing cabinets, clearly organised into two sections. In the harsh, artificial light, Lavi read through the tags on the cabinets. The first section was marked as "general", with tags to various aspects of the project, from the origins and the concepts, through genetics and something called "original bodies", to the synchronisation testing and "second stage". Finally, it contained a couple of drawers marked as "staff". The second section was marked as "specimens" and each drawer had a name on it and a symbol saying "active", "asleep" or, in one case, "deceased". The names were organised in alphabetic order. The last drawer's tag read "pre-core specimens".

With a sigh, Lavi turned back towards the first section of cabinets and opened the first one marked with "genetics". He wasn't really interested in origins and concepts, knowing all the ideological crap that the Central had fed the scientists, in order to force on the Second Exorcist Project. He picked out the first folder and flipped it open, scanning through the text with a speed only a Bookman could achieve, memorising the content without fully understanding it. It was a technique he had learned for the occasions when the information was not freely available and he would have to assimilate it quickly in order to later make a log.

He went through all the folders of the "genetics" and "original bodies" section, only glancing at some about the synchronisation testing and second stage. He ignored the cabinets containing information about the staff, because that had always been available to the Bookman, and turned to the second section of cabinets. Deciding to start with the active specimens, he scanned all the information about Akiko and proceeded to memorise everything the Asian Branch had on Alma.

In the back of his mind, he knew that he would deeply regret reading this kind of information about people he considered friends, but such a trivial sentiment could not come between him and fulfilling his mission as a future Bookman. He hoped, however, that Alma and Yuu would never find out he had read all this information, because they would surely hate him for it. At the same time, he knew that he shouldn't be bothered and shouldn't be hoping or regretting.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed before he slipped out of the room, unnoticed, and locked it again to leave no trace of his passage, going to his room so that he could think in peace. His head was full of meaningless letters, arranged into sentences and paragraphs, detailing the progress of specimen "Yuu", the last one he had read. He shoved them into the back of his mind and fished for the memorised pages about the genetics, eager to find out all the secrets.

The scientists had decided to use genetic material from a number of Japanese immigrants, to spite the Millennium Earl, who had claimed Japan for himself. The other, more reasonable motivation was the hope that the Seconds would never encounter anybody who looked too similar to them and could mistake them for some distant family. Two main genetic makeups had been chosen, one fitting better the equipment type and one for the parasitic Exorcists. As he read the notes in his head, Lavi wondered how they could foresee the type of the Innocence, but he figured it would be explained later.

Most of the new DNA sequences, made to create strong and resistant humans, were given some twitches, so that the Second Exorcists would not create and eerie army of identic beings. Lavi skimmed through the details quickly. The number of male and female bodies was decided on and each body was grown in optimal conditions, until it reached the equivalent of an eight-year-old child. At that point, the body was retrieved and the brain was taken out and replaced by an "Innocence-compatible" brain. The text there sent Lavi to the sections about "original bodies" and, feeling sick, he read about how dead Exorcists had been collected, their bodies and brains preserved for experimentation.

The "Innocence-compatible" brains, obtained through a long process of trial and error, mostly being the "original body" brains trimmed to fit the new body and age, were inserted into the artificially grown bodies. Then the cardiovascular system was modified and a magical core was inserted, after it had been established that forcing synchronisation killed the new host. Once the core was activated, it created a seal, in a form of a tattoo, and healed the body from all the scars caused by the surgeries. The body was subsequently submerged into a pool of nutrient liquid, where it matured and slept.

The information sank in and Lavi had to stop reading to take a couple of deep breaths. He could easily picture the procedures and the bodies in his mind were not just nameless dolls, but his friends. Hell, he thought, fighting to keep some semblance of calm, even if this had not been the recipe according to which Yuu and Alma had been made, he would have had difficulties reading it. Unbidden, the image of Exorcist coffins came to his mind and he wondered if they had really been empty, bodies taken to the Asian Branch. That kid who had died three years ago, had he had his brain cut out and put into Akiko, who had rampaged through the Sixth Institute?

How were the Second Exorcists different than demons the Earl created? What difference was there between trapping a brain into an undying, engineered body and trapping a soul into moving armour?

He pulled at his hair in frustration. Of course Alma and Yuu were different than demons. They were his friends, they were- They were going to fight somebody who had a piece of the knowledge Lavi had just acquired. Mentally, he flipped to the last page of the files about "Akiko" to read: "Had found about the original bodies."

A cold shiver ran down Lavi's spine. He would have been furious if he had found out that he was made from an empty shell and a desecrated, violated brain. He would be furious enough to desire revenge and turn against those who had made him. Would he be furious enough to side with the others of his kind against the mankind? Probably.

Fighting down the terror, he ran out of his room to stop the Seconds before they went in to the sealed section of the Asian Branch. He was too late, he realised as he skidded to halt in a control room, where Bak was watching the Seconds on multiple screens. Oh God, he thought.


	8. Sparkle, sparkle little star

**I'm really sorry, I forgot to post this!**

* * *

**Ch. 7: Sparkle, sparkle little star**

Fou was the only one who escorted them to the edge of the sealed section. She was having problems keeping her form and Alma knew that they were truly lucky to have arrived on time. As they arrived to the doors, he looked at his brothers and sisters, smiling at them. Yuu scowled, while the other three kept impassive expressions.

'Let's work as a team on this one,' he said, carefully keeping the exact details of "this one" out of his mind for as long as he could. He knew that they needed to do this and, no matter how much it pained him to kill his sister, it had pained him just as much to learn that Doctor Edgar and the others were dead. 'Akiko has a long distance weapon, but she can only aim it in two directions at once and she needs time to recharge after every attack,' he reminded them. They had all been told that by one of the scientists who was doing surveillance over the locked out area.

'We need to spread out and keep moving to avoid getting hit as much as possible,' Alma continued, still trying to keep the images out of his head. He had seen the little girl, ten years old and looking very much like himself, wearing the same clothes he and Yuu had been wearing in the Sixth Institute. 'Let's try to get it over fast: immobilise her and cut out the core.'

'She'll know what you came for,' Fou muttered. 'She'll be prepared and it's very important that you don't trust all that she says,' she added, looking worried. Alma smiled at her.

'Don't worry Fou,' he said. 'No matter what Akiko has to say, she has to be stopped and she will be stopped,' he assured her. He didn't want to voice his hope that he might be able to persuade her to stand down and maybe, just maybe she could stand a chance at becoming an Exorcist and finding friends in the Order, like he and Yuu had.

'We're wasting time,' Yuu growled and Alma straightened, nodding. He activated his Innocence as his brother unsheathed Mugen. Kaori had already been ready, while Mei and Sora followed Alma's example. Alma nodded at Fou and the barrier fell as the guardian spirit dematerialised. Thankfully Akiko was not waiting for them at the entrance.

'Don't give her a chance to escape,' Alma ordered in a whisper and the five of them went into the section of the Asian Branch known as the Sixth Institute.

It hadn't changed much in the eight years that Alma hadn't seen it. The corridors were still long and the main hall was still overwhelming. They walked in complete silence, trying to listen to the sounds of their enemy, but there were none so far. Alma didn't want to consider the possibility that this was a trap and Akiko had been hiding in one of the side corridors only to let them pass and to find her freedom.

'Let's try downstairs,' Yuu suggested. His tone was strained and cold and Alma spared a glance at his brother's deep scowl. He wished there was a way to reassure him, but they could not afford to be distracted. He nodded and led them down to where the birthing pools were, trying to not be overwhelmed by the memories of the time he had spent there, "discovering" in the breaks between the testing and fighting with Yuu.

He scoffed, because that "discovering" had taught him nothing about the real world. He had been locked here like an animal in the ZOO, experimented on like a specimen and- That was not the time to be rekindling old grudges, he thought. He needed to stay focused on the task, because lives depended on him, just like every other time, when he was fighting a demon. He shuddered at the comparison and pushed the thoughts away. Like all the others, he had been trained to be a weapon and this once he had to allow himself to become one.

He sniffed and grimaced at the smell of burnt and rotten flesh.

'This is disgusting,' Mei muttered somewhere behind him. Alma agreed, but said nothing. 'Shall we start the light here?' she suggested.

'It will alert her to our presence,' Sora protested immediately. Alma didn't have the time to weight the options, because a new voice cut into their whispered discussion.

'Oh, but she is already aware,' said the voice that could only belong to Akiko. 'She was waiting for her brothers and sisters to arrive, knowing that the cowardly humans would send for the abominations they have created, to do the dirty job,' said the childish voice cuttingly. The words chilled Alma to the bone as he looked around for their source.

'The pool room,' Yuu whispered into his ear. 'The echo is carrying her voice here,' he added. Delighted laughter echoed in the corridor and Alma nodded at his brother. He motioned for the others to go towards the pools and, as soon as they could, spread out around so that Akiko could not shot them all down at one go. They went, keeping distance one from the other, and slipped into the room one by one, Alma going in as the last one.

The room, or maybe chapel, was also exactly like Alma had remembered: large and cold, filled with dim light and heavy silence. The only difference was that the pool water was stained red in all the pits, except for one. Next to that pit, the girl was standing, looking at them with a bright smile and Alma saw himself in that smile and that face. He realised that he wasn't sure he would be able to hurt her.

'You've come at last,' she girl said. 'I know all your names of course, I've been told from the very beginning that I would join you but I didn't think it would be like that,' she explained, suddenly losing the smile. She looked lost without it, maybe even scared. Alma gritted his teeth, repeating to himself that she had killed everybody. She was responsible for the rotten and burnt stench permeating every corner of the Sixth Institute.

'We were sent here to stop you,' he told the girl, happy when his voice remained firm and unwavering. She nodded and looked at him sadly, asking if they would. 'We have no choice Akiko, unless you promise to stop. You have killed enough.'

'I have killed enough?' she repeated, suddenly sounding angry. Alma pursed his lips. 'How many have they killed, trying to create us? How many have they sacrificed in their quest?' she asked. Alma didn't know what to say.

'That hardly matters right now, does it?' Yuu asked the girl and she glared at him. Glancing at his brother, Alma saw him clench his fingers around the magical box. It had been decided that he carries it, because he could fight with one hand, while Mei and Kaori were more efficient if they could use both hands. Alma selfishly didn't want to have the box and Sora would probably be further away, shooting steel feathers at Akiko, rather than close enough to hack out the core. Akiko also seemed to notice the box, because her eyes narrowed.

'Yuu, right?' she asked back. 'Equipment type, I assume, since you don't look like me,' she added. Alma frowned. What did she mean? 'Would you like to know how we came to be? Humans wouldn't say much about you, but I guessed that you were not happy like Alma, or indifferent like Kaori,' she spoke and glanced at the two in question, before adding that the synchronisation team didn't have much to say about Mei and Sora, who were gone so fast.

'I don't care what you have to say,' Yuu told her coldly. Alma nodded, half to himself, half to Akiko. They could ponder the similarities between the equipment type Seconds and the parasitic Seconds afterwards, he was sure. He gave a sign to Kaori and Sora and the two moved. Kaori jumped at Akiko, while Sora flew up. The girl, momentarily confused, didn't jump away on time and one of the machetes cut her, provoking a pained scream, quickly followed by Kaori's shout as she got shot with a bolt of electricity.

'You want to fight?' Akiko asked, holding her arm, which was already healed. 'You want to side with those disgusting humans who had violated our bodies?' she yelled and shot out a bolt of electricity that caught Yuu, sending him backwards against the wall with a scream.

'Stop this,' Alma shouted. He jumped at the girl, scratching her with his Innocence because she had jumped away too late. Sora shot a couple of feathers at her, but they missed. 'This doesn't have to end like that,' he pleaded, taking the risk to glance at Yuu, relieved to see him standing up already. Kaori had also picked herself up.

'No it doesn't,' Akiko agreed. 'We can kill them all, the damned scientists who created dolls for themselves and then stuffed brains into them,' she hissed. All five Seconds paused as her words sank in. Was that what Fou told them to not listen to? Was that the truth or was it like Doctor Edgar had said: that they had created bodies with hope that it will work?

'Now you're listening, aren't you?' Akiko asked bitterly. 'Did they lie to you as well? Did they tell you that you were lucky the Innocence had chosen you? Did they pretend to be surprised at the shapes your Innocence took? Because let me tell you: they knew,' she yelled, hurt and fury in her voice.

'They couldn't have known before we synchronised,' Alma protested. He knew how it worked: Innocence chose a person and became something they could use. There was no way to know what it would be, before the synchronisation and sometimes even afterwards it would only be decided by the ones forging the weapon.

'Of course they knew, because they took dead Exorcists, they took their brains and Innocence and forced them to work together again with the help of a different body,' Akiko hissed. 'Did you never wonder why the Innocence killed you over and over again if it had chosen you?' she asked. Alma felt sick as the words sank in. He wasn't human, of course not, he was created, but- But he was not some sort of demon, was he?

'Why should we believe you?' Yuu asked, and Alma looked at his chalk-white face.

'Why should you believe them?' Akiko asked back. Sparkles shot between her fingers as she raised her hands.

'Our beliefs hardly matter,' said Kaori in her normal, dead tone. 'We had been ordered to neutralise you and that is what we are going to do,' she added, glaring at Alma, probably for not taking the lead. Akiko turned to her and Mei used that as a chance to embed one of her shuriken in the girl's shoulder. Alma screwed his eyes shut when the girl cried out in pain.

'Watch out Alma,' Sora shouted from above. Before Alma could react, a weight crushed into him and he fell to the ground under it.

'Get a grip, Alma,' Yuu hissed and Alma opened his eyes to see that it had been his brother who'd saved him from what probably was a painful bolt of electricity. 'We'll think about it later, for now there's no choice but to-' he never finished, only screamed and curled up in pain, falling off him. It took Alma a moment to realise what had happened: Akiko.

As the aftermath of the attack left Yuu breathing shallowly, struggling to get up, Alma felt angry. Years ago, he had decided to protect Yuu and he was not going to stop now, not even for another one of their kind. He got up and helped Yuu up, making sure that there was no serious damage.

'You're right,' he said to his brother and glared at Akiko. 'I'm sorry, Akiko, but we cannot let you out of the Sixth Institute,' he told her, reactivating his Innocence, which had revoked itself at some point when he was too shocked to concentrate.

'That's more like it,' Sora enthused, but Alma could see the pained gleam in his eyes. 'I'll cover you guys,' he added and shot a steely feather, preventing Akiko from attacking Alma and Yuu, profiting from the fact that they were close to each other.

'Mei, help Sora,' Alma ordered. The girl nodded and jumped back, producing and throwing a shuriken when Akiko wanted to attack again. If the core is intact, she can come back, Alma thought, we're not really killing her permanently. 'Kaori, you take the east,' he shouted.

'Yes sir,' Kaori acknowledged and moved to take the assigned position. Akiko looked desperate, turning from one to the other as Alma told Yuu to stay in position and jumped to the west side of the room himself. He had the trust that Sora and Mei would not let Akiko attack Yuu until he was ready to defend himself.

'Five against one,' Akiko sneered. 'I see you've learnt too much from humans,' she accused and it wasn't the words but the tone that felt like a stab to the heart to Alma. Akiko's eyes were welling up with tears and for a moment, he saw himself in her place, hurt and confused and wishing for the hell to stop. He wished that he could hug her and promise her that everything would be alright.

'It doesn't have to be that way,' he tried to say, but had to jump away from the electric attack. Akiko cried and, when he looked back, she was wrenching a steel feather out of her forearm. The wound bled for a moment and closed and she waited no time to send an attack at Sora, who dodged it with a laugh.

'There is no other way,' Akiko sobbed, sending another attack, this time at Mei. What the hell happened to the recharging time? Alma wondered. 'You chose humans over me, so now I have to fight you till I die again and again and my blood falls on your hands Alma,' she added, throwing random attacks.

'Five second intervals,' Kaori noted flatly.

'Mei, Sora, grab her arms,' Alma ordered, but his voice lacked conviction. The two acknowledged, but had to dodge the electricity, because Akiko had also heard the order. One of them screamed. 'Kaori,' Alma shouted, running towards the girl himself. They would gain nothing by staying spread out and only avoiding the attacks.

'Now,' he yelled as he dived under the electricity bolt, grabbing Akiko's ankles, making her lose her balance. When he looked up, Mei and Sora were holding Akiko's arms and the three of them had her immobilised. She was struggling and screaming and then she even managed to direct her attack at Mei and Sora, but they held it out somehow.

'Yuu,' Alma started, hating himself for what he was asking of his brother. There was a swish of cut air and a pain-filled scream as the ankles twitched. Alma looked up to see a machete sticking out of Akiko's stomach. He had to restrain the instinct to vomit.

The ankles twitched and stilled and Alma put one hand to his mouth in another, desperate try to not vomit all over the temporarily dead body. Then Akiko's seal activated and she gasped as she came back to life and screamed as she registered the pain. Alma's eyes welled up with tears, his vision blurring, but not enough to miss Mei and Sora receiving another bout of electricity before Yuu cut awkwardly and Akiko screamed again. She died again and Yuu finished cutting out the core and locked it into a box. Alma turned away and vomited.

When he was done, he saw Kaori cleaning the machetes methodically, looking unmoved by what they had just done and unconcerned by the blood marring her uniform. Avoiding the bloody body, Alma turned to see Mei and Sora, looking somewhat pale and somewhat green, their clothes and faces bloodied. They looked back at him and he couldn't stand the questions in their eyes, so he looked away. Had they done the right thing?

Yuu was sitting some distance away from the body, clutching the bloody box in one hand and Mugen in the other. His face was still chalk-white, at least where it wasn't bloody red. Kaori came up to him and extended her hand and he handed her the box looking somewhat grateful to not have to hold it. Then, with trembling hands, he cleaned the blade and sheathed it.

'I guess we should go back,' Sora said weakly. Alma nodded. 'We leave the body here, right?' he asked and Alma nodded again, feeling sick again. He forced it down. Let the humans bother with the mess, he thought, taking a deep breath. He needed to get up now. A hand obscured his vision and he looked up at its owner, Yuu. He grabbed it and his brother pulled him up and they left the room without looking back. The other three followed.

Nobody said a word. They reached the edge of Sixth Institute and were greeted by a number of Crow guards standing in defensive poses. Did the humans think they would attack them? It hurt Alma to even consider this, but then Lavi came up running and hugged him and, despite Lavi being a human, Alma hugged him back, all but crumbling into the embrace, sobbing, because Lavi was not only a human but also a friend.


End file.
